After retiring the first batter he faced to start the bottom half of the fifth inning, New York Mets reliever Miguel Batista walked the bases loaded. With one out and bases juiced, Mets manager Terry Collins called upon left handed reliever Josh Edgin. Keeping his pre-game promise of not hesitating to throw Edgin into a pressure situation.
“It’s the middle of July,” Collins said, according to Adam Rubin of ESPN New York. “It’s fire time.”
Making his major league debut, Edgin responded by inducing back-to-back swinging strikeouts, stranding the bases full of Bravos.
Asked to give the Mets one more inning of work, the 25-year-old lefty specialist made quick work of Martin Prado and Jason Heyward before Met-killer and future Hall of Famer, Chipper Jones, welcomed him to the majors with a solo blast to centerfield. Freddie Freeman followed the Jones homer with a double to right putting an end to Edgin’s night.
Other than a hanging slider to Chipper, I felt Edgin did very well in his major league debut. Seems as if Mets manager Terry Collins would agree, as Collins told reporters he was very impressed with the 25-year-old following the Mets 7-5 loss to Atlanta, saying:
“He threw the ball very, very well. Very impressive. Tough situation for him to come into. The one inning he just made a mistake on Chipper. He tried to back-foot the breaking ball, the slider, and just left it on the plate. Chipper does what Chipper does when you make mistakes. You don’t have the career he’s had with missing them. But, I was very impressed. He threw the ball great.”
While the final stat line may not look pretty, I can’t help but be impressed with Edgin’s ability to work out of a bases loaded jam in the sixth; especially after he fell behind 2-0 to both batters he faced in the frame. Behind 2-0, the left-hander stayed composed and battled back to record swinging strikeouts on two filthy sliders. The addition of Edgin gives NY a much needed second lefty in the pen. Leaving me to look back to the Yankees series and wonder if Collins had a second lefty in the pen — back then — would he have allowed Batista to face Robinson Cano (twice) or Chris Young to pitch to Raul Ilbanez. I believe the answer is simple. No.
Prior to his call-up, Edgin held left-handed batters to a .220 average while recording 21 strikeouts over 15 2/3 innings of work for Triple-A Buffalo:
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July 15, 2012
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