Peterson keeps Mets alive
It’s easy to forget — given the countless number of challenges Mets pandemicbaseball haspresented — that rookie lefthander David Peterson jumped from Double-A ball in the minors directly to the big leagues. The way the 25-year-old dominated one of the best lineups in the league Saturday yielded no signs of his inexperience in the majors. His season overall, well, it’s been one to remember.
Peterson hurled five scoreless innings before a home run to Adam Duvall dented his outing, but not enough to sour it. The southpaw compiled a career-high 10 strikeouts and surrendered just three hits over six innings and a career-high 102 pitches in the Mets’ 7-2 win over the Braves on Saturday.
The win keeps the Mets’ slim playoff hopes alive. They likely need to win seven of their last eighth games, or perhaps run hte table, to sneak into a wildcard spot.
“No matter what we do hitting-wise, it’s always going to come down to the pitching,” said Robinson Cano, who crushed his ninth home run of the year
Saturday. “What he did tonight, a team like the Braves — everybody can hit there and that’s a team that has men on base — he was able to shut it down tonight. That was outstanding.”
He struck out Freddie Freeman all three times he faced him. The Braves first baseman is batting .349 with a 1.101 OPS this season and Luis Rojas and Cano praised Peterson for whiffing the best hitter in the NL, if not all of baseball.
Given how much Peterson was praised by the Mets, stretching from the offseaso n to spring training at Port St. Lucie, it was a bit of a surprise when he didn’t make their Opening Day roster in July. Righthander Corey Oswalt received his spot instead, despite manager Luis Rojas frequently referring to Peterson as the team’s seventh starter in March. (This was during that hopeful time in the Mets’ season when Noah Syndergaard was still healthy, Marcus Stroman hadn’t opted out and Steven Matz was impressing the staff with his phenomenal stuff.)
Peterson got the call sooner rather than later. He made his MLB debut on July 28 at Fenway Park in a memorable night for the newcomer. Peterson re
ferred to his 5.2 inning, two-run outing as “one of the greatest days of my life.” Really, the great days were just beginning.
“Honestly, he looks like a guy that’s been in the league for so long,” Cano said.
The Mets’ 2017 first-round draft pick had a 3.80 ERA over his first nine games (eight starts) and 42.2 innings in the big leagues. When you take away his only rough start of the year — in which Peterson gave up five earned runs in two innings to the Phillies — he would have a 2.91
ERA.
Peterson has the Mets’ second-best starter ERA (4.24) behind Jacob deGrom.
And that’s exactly who the rookie proved he could be for the Mets: A No. 2 starter.
“It’s been awesome,” Peterson said. “I’ve felt ready to contribute in any way possible and in any way the coaching staff and the team asked. It’s been a blessing for me to be up here.”
The Amazin’s rotation was a complete crapshoot behind deGrom after Stroman opted out.
Peterson and Michael Wacha momentarily hit the injured list, Matz recorded a 9.00 ERA midway through the 60-game sprint and Rick Porcello was inconsistent. But before and after Petersonspenttwo weekson the IL, he was one of the only dependable options for Rojas. In a season when the skipper converted Robert Gsellman and Seth Lugo into starters, and only the latter has mostly succeeded, Peterson’s calm dominance on the mound was routinely a sigh of relief.