Edwin Díaz and his explosive debut with the Dodgers: Save and trumpets

When the ninth inning arrived on Friday and the drums resounded, Teoscar Hernández waited in the dugout. He needed to take his position in left field, but first he wanted to watch Edwin Díaz, the closer, make his first walk from the Dodger Stadium bullpen to the mound. Hernández wanted to enjoy the tension of Timmy Trumpet, who turned Díaz into an icon thousands of kilometers away. Hernández wanted to see the Dodgers fans experience Díaz’s electrifying entrance for the first time. And he wasn’t alone.

Everyone was waiting for that.

Hernández

Moments after Kyle Tucker, the Dodgers’ big offseason acquisition, put his new team ahead with a run-scoring single in the bottom of the eighth, Díaz, their other big offseason addition, closed out the game in the top of the ninth, retiring three of the four Arizona Diamondbacks batters he faced to earn his first save and give the Dodgers a 5-4 victory. Díaz spent the last seven years in New York and became a star, racking up 144 saves for the Mets and becoming a fan favorite at Citi Field. Then, he opted not to continue, saw the Mets bring in a possible replacement in Devin Williams, and jumped at the chance to join the Dodgers, who signed him to a three-year, $69 million contract that was quite similar to what the Mets offered to bring him back.

I was in New York, but now I’m here. I’m enjoying the time with this team. We have a really good team. I have to keep doing my job. And now I’m listening to the trumpets here at Dodger Stadium.

Díaz

Díaz tapped his glove twice as he reached the warning track in left field, just as the lights went out. He began to jog and the drums started. As he reached the middle of the outfield, a trumpet player from Long Beach named Tatiana Tate sat just beyond the left field wall and began to mimic the “Narco” song part by Timmy Trumpet.

I was a little surprised. I heard a trumpet playing before I left. I said, ‘There’s no way they have a live trumpet.’ It was pretty funny.

Díaz

Twelve pitchers recorded saves for the Dodgers last year. When the playoffs began, Roki Sasaki was converted to a closer to solidify a tired bullpen. And when the situation was most critical, in Game 7 of the World Series, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts relied only on his starting pitchers to stop the powerful Toronto Blue Jays.

It was clear the Dodgers needed to address the ninth inning, and yet Roberts didn’t believe they had any chance of signing Díaz. He seemed too entrenched with the Mets. Then, while Roberts was on vacation in early December, one of the Dodgers’ front office members asked him to join a video conference and help recruit Díaz. They spoke for about 45 minutes, selling Díaz on their culture and their city.

Then, I told my wife: ‘We’re going to get it.’ I felt very good about it.

Roberts

Now, Díaz gives the Dodgers their first established and bona fide closer since Kenley Jansen left after the 2021 season. He reinforces their only obvious weakness. And on just the second day of their season, he was already on display.

I think this is a really good team. I think we have a lot of good players here. I think if everyone stays healthy, this team has a chance to win, three times in a row. Let’s cross our fingers that everyone stays healthy and keeps winning baseball games like we did today and yesterday.

Díaz