Mets' Edwin Diaz strikes out the side in first exhibition appearance

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Edwin Diaz is back. In a big way.

Just under one year after suffering an unthinkable freak injury in the World Baseball Classic, the Mets’ closer faced three Miami batters and struck them all out on Monday night.

“I knew I would be really good,” said Diaz, who threw 14 pitches. “But three strikeouts in the first outing was amazing.”

Diaz emerged into Clover Park through a gate in foul territory down the leftfield line in the top of the fifth inning.

The familiar sounds of Timmy Trumpet playing “Narco” blared over the loudspeakers as Diaz started to jog to the mound for his first spring training outing of 2024.

“It was crazy [with] people screaming and everything,” Diaz said. “I was just trying to control my emotions at that moment because I know I have to do my job even in a spring training game. I treat this game like a regular-season [game]. I was trying to control everything — my emotions — and trying to make my pitches. Everything went really good.”

Tylor Megill, who started the game, said the spectacle of Diaz entering — lower-key as it was in a spring training setting rather than what it will be at Citi Field — gave him “butterflies.”

Diaz’s first pitch was a 98-mph fastball that Miami’s Jesus Sanchez fouled off the helmet of Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez and right into the chest of plate umpire CB Bucknor.

After a short pause for Buck-nor to get his wind back, Diaz threw his third pitch inside and to the backstop.

Then, on 3-and-2, Diaz struck out the lefthanded-hitting Sanchez on an unhittable inside slider. Diaz said that pitch is when he truly knew he was back.

After Sanchez, Diaz got righthanded-hitting Avisail Garcia on an outside slider and righthanded-hitting Jon Berti on another outside slider.

Good morning, good afternoon and good night.

“It was pretty packed [in the dugout],” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “Pretty much the whole team was out there. And that was special. Everybody came out to watch him take the mound. The whole team was there for the whole inning. And then after that, I think it was a pretty empty dugout. No disrespect to anyone else, but that goes to show you that everybody was just looking to watch him pitch.”

Diaz was injured last March 15 when he suffered a torn patella tendon in his right knee while celebrating after recording the final out of a WBC game.

He might have been able to return in September if the Mets had been in a pennant race, but they were not. The club also brought Diaz along slowly during spring training.

What’s next for Diaz? More spring training games and then, he and the Mets hope, the bullpen door swinging open and trumpets blaring in the ninth inning of the March 28 opener against Milwaukee.

“I know Citi Field will go crazy when I step out of the bullpen,” Diaz said before the game.

Assuming he pitches during the season-opening homestand, Citi Field will be rocking whenever Diaz makes his first appearance in a game that counts since Game 3 of the 2022 NL Wild Card Series against San Diego.

It’ll be hard to top the energy from Aug. 31, 2022, when Timmy Trumpet played “Narco” live at the ballpark as Diaz entered a game against the Dodgers.

Mr. Trumpet — whose real name is Timothy Jude Smith — happened to be in New York City on Sunday, according to his social media. Might a return to Citi Field be in the cards for Timmy in 2024?

“I talk to him a lot on social media,” Diaz said. “I hope he gets the chance to come this year and play the trumpet for us.”

n  Megill sharp again

Megill allowed one run (on Tim Anderson’s home run) and three hits in four innings in the Mets’ 1-0 loss. Megill, who has a 1.50 ERA in his bid for a rotation spot, walked none and struck out two . . . Joe Suozzi, the son of U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi, picked up his first-ever spring training hit, a double in the eighth inning. Joe Suozzi, a 26-year-old outfielder from Glen Cove, had been 0-for-4 after going 0-for-1 in spring training last season.