The National League won the All-Star game thanks to Rockies catcher Elias Díaz blasting a two-run homer off Félix Bautista of the Orioles, who had only given up three homers all season.
So, let’s do the home run chain for Díaz today… it started six years ago in New York!
Elias Díaz hit his first home run off Paul Sewald, 6/2/17
And… Díaz is a chain-starter! That was the first home run that Paul Sewald allowed, after having started his rookie season out of the Mets’ bullpen with 14 straight homerless appearances, in which he had 24 strikeouts and four walks over 20.1 innings with a 2.21 ERA, holding opponents to a .621 OPS.
It all fell apart on a Friday night in Flushing, when Díaz had already put the Pirates ahead with a three-run double off Matt Harvey, but the Mets had regained the lead in the bottom of the fifth on a Michael Conforto homer, Neil Walker triple, a Gerrit Cole wild pitch, and Lucas Duda’s second home run of the game.
With the Mets up, 7-4, Josh Bell led off the sixth with a homer, and Harvey was pulled after walking Andrew McCutchen. Sewald came in, got tagged for a single by Jordy Mercer, and then served up Díaz’s three-run blast. It got worse for Sewald, as after he struck out Max Moroff, there was a single by Adam Frazier, an RBI double by Josh Harrison, and a single by Gregory Polanco. Sewald then hit David Freese with a pitch to load the bases, walked Bell to force in another run, and got charged for one last run after Neil Ramirez entered, as McCutchen hit a sacrifice fly.
Here are the highlights!
Díaz now has 51 career home runs, plus a really awesome one in an exhibition game. And the six runs batted in are no longer a career high: Díaz knocked in seven last year in Denver, capped by a walk-off homer.
We Can Pod It Out 153: Hey Bulldog