Mariners closer Edwin Diaz had his first career at-bat tonight and it went about as you'd expect
Something that Diaz is not known for, however, is hitting. This is mostly because, as a reliever in the American League, he's basically never done it before: Entering play on Wednesday, he'd had exactly one at-bat in his Major League career. So, when Seattle asked him to bat in the top of the ninth of Wednesday's game against the Braves, we knew we were in for a treat. And oh man, it did not disappoint.
If you simply looked at the box score, you'd see that Diaz struck out on five pitches -- a respectable effort, if a predictable outcome. But that doesn't come close to telling the entire story. Because, you see, Diaz had absolutely no intention of swinging at any point:
Even better: The pitcher facing Diaz, Braves reliever A.J. Minter, was making his big league debut, and that was his first career strikeout.
In the bottom half, Diaz got back to his regularly scheduled programming, striking out the side to nail down a 9-6 Mariners win.
