For Diaz, bad night of sleep equals worse night on hill

Edwin Diaz and his back tightness nearly cost the Mets the game. The right-hander went in to close up shop on what would have been an 8-4 Mets’ victory over the Phillies on Sunday. Instead, he turned it into a one-run lead by giving up three runs on two hits), two walks and a strikeout. Diaz was pulled for Jeurys Familia after Rhys Hoskins’ long ball was ruled a ground-rule double instead of a threerun game-tying homer. Later, it was revealed that Diaz was struggling with back tightness, which started when he was warming up in the bullpen and just got worse with every pitch, the reliever said Monday. Diaz didn’t think much of the tightness and thought he could still go out and perform.

“I couldn’t finish my pitches,” Diaz said before the Mets’ game against the Cardinals Monday night at Busch Stadium. “It felt like I was pulling back.”

Diaz speculated the tightness was the result of bad sleep because it was not a chronic injury for him. He also clarified that even though he does feel back tightness, it’s not frequent and he was already feeling better. “I’m ready to go tomorrow or the next day,” Diaz said. “But it is something I’ll keep monitoring.”

Luis Rojas added to that, saying that in a 162-game season, no one feels 100% and everyone has some kind of soreness, pointing out the risk that comes with getting very little sleep — like the Mets’ quick turnaround from Sunday’s game, which landed them on a flight that didn’t arrive until 3 a.m. in St. Louis — and “beating up your body.”

“We want to be smart toward whatever we put on the guys, but there’ll be some soreness and the guys are gonna play through those and gonna pitch through those,” the Mets manager said.

When asked whether the issue was having to pitch in back-to-back games, Diaz said: “I’ve pitched four games back-to-back before and have thrown normally. Yesterday, I just didn’t feel well . ... I don’t think I have to change anything, I think I’ve been attacking batters well.”

Rojas also pointed out that the Mets keep their lines of communication open so that players can come to them if they feel something, whether major or minor.

TO THE IL

J.D. Davis was put on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to Sunday.

Davis was injured at some point during Saturday’s game against the Phillies with what’s been ruled a left hand sprain. Davis said on Sunday he wasn’t sure how he got hurt, just that it was “very odd and very strange.”

Davis was pulled in the seventh inning of that game. On Sunday, he wasn’t able to swing a bat, but he did take grounders.

This is his second IL stint of the season. Davis landed on the 10-day IL last month after getting hit by a pitch.

APRIL WAS DE-GREATEST

Jacob deGrom was named National League pitcher for the month of April.

DeGrom finished his five starts over the month with a 0.51 ERA (two earned runs over 35 innings pitched) with four walks and 59 punchouts. He also tied Nolan Ryan’s 43-year-old record for most strikeouts over the first five starts of a season.