Phillies manager Rob Thomson accuses Mets closer Edwin Diaz of faking injury after controversial reversed call

Edwin Diaz has been one of the most dominant relief pitchers over the past few seasons, earning a pair of All-Star selections and Reliver of the Year Awards in the process. Despite his long track record of success, Diaz has struggled a bit this season, posting a 4.91 ERA over 11.0 innings of work with 6 saves.

The veteran closer's last outing caused a bit of a stir, especially with the opposition. During Wednesday night's victory over the Philadelphia Phillies, Edwin Diaz took to the mound for the New York Mets in the 10th inning to help his club prevent falling further behind their opponents.

The Phils found themselves up 3-2 with an out when Diaz was called for a balk after disengaging from the mound three times, advancing the runner on first to second base. Diaz, however, pointed to the dugout, indicating that he had sustained some sort of injury, which led to the umpires reversing the balk call. This is a decision that left Phillies manager frustrated, even after the game was finished.

The New York Mets were ultimately able to escape the inning without allowing any more damage before walking it off in the bottom of the 10th inning. When asked about the decision to reverse the balk call, Thomson seemingly accused Diaz of faking the injury in order to send Phillies outfielder Nick Castellanos back to first base.

"My question was, he wasn't injured the first time he stepped off or after the second time off, so he steps off the third time, they award him second base, then he calls the trainer out, that kind of doesn't make sense to me... That’s a play that I’ll have to remember to tell our pitchers, step off a third time. Call the trainer. He’ll take you out. We’ll put somebody else in," Thomson told reporters.

The New York Mets labeled Edwin Diaz's injury a left hip cramp, which forced him out of the game on Wednesday night. Despite the early exit, he is not expected to miss any significant time.

Edwin Diaz says that the Mets training staff noticed that one of his legs was longer than the other

According to the Mets closer, the New York Mets training staff noticed that the All-Star's legs were not the same length, which is something that could have been behind the hip injury. Diaz explained that during his pre-game preparation, the Mets' staff noticed that he was off balance, pointing to his hips as the cause.

"I was working with the trainer to get ready for the game, so I was watching my legs and said that the right one was longer than the left and I asked if it was normal and he said no. So he fixed my hips right away," Diaz explained.

It will be interesting to see if the adjustments that the team's staff made to his hips will help him improve his performances on the mound as the season moves along. The New York Mets' pitching staff has been so dominant that the team can afford to be patience with Edwin Diaz as he sorts it out.