When Austin Adams entered in relief for the Athletics in the fifth inning on Tuesday night at Citi Field, the Mets had already scored three runs to trim Oakland's lead from 7-1 to 7-4, and had runners on first and second with no one out.
Adams, who was DFA'd by the Mets in February before being traded in March, strutted and screamed and cursed his way through his outing, retiring the three Mets he faced (including Jose Iglesias) in order while escaping the jam. He then put an exclamation point on it by mocking the Mets' "OMG" celebration before continuing to scream and curse in the direction of the Mets as he returned to the dugout.
It was quite a scene.
And while it was understandable that Adams would be emotional pitching against the team that DFA'd him in February before trading him to Oakland (after signing him last Nov. 30), the extent to which he took things was uncommon.
Edwin Diaz took notice.
"He crossed a line because that’s something we do when we hit a homer or something," Diaz told The New York Post.
Diaz added: "He [can] do it always, that’s fine. But, he can’t get mad if we do something to him the next couple of days."
Adams chalked his reaction up to being in the heat of the moment.
"Honestly, I looked up, and I was so surprised that I got out of [the inning], I was like, 'Oh my gosh!' And then it dawned on me: Oh my gosh. And then so I did it," Adams told The Athletic's Will Sammon after the game. "But that song is sick. Iglesias is a good dude. Hopefully, no one is offended."
Added Adams to reporters: "I got DFA’d three days before games started over there. I mean, I’m a middle reliever so I mean, that just happens with the job that I have. I got out of a huge jam that helped the team.
"I pitch on emotion. I maybe need to do a better job of not doing that. But, at the end of the day, big-time situation in a game. Got some big outs, got the team a win. You know when you get DFA’d you’re told you’re not good enough to play for a team anymore. You know it sucks, so yeah had a little extra juice today."
