Ortega and Mets walk off with win
Peterson turns in best outing this season
David Peterson has been able to maintain his confidence throughout a challenging season, but the Mets are hoping he can build up more of it with a few more good starts in August and September.
Peterson turned in a solid performance against the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday afternoon at Citi Field in the Mets’ 3-2 walk-off win. He didn’t get the decision, but it was a victory of sorts for the Mets who have struggled to get their young arms on a consistent track.
“That’s the best in-game that I’ve felt this year,” Peterson said. “It felt good to go deep in the game again and go over 100 pitches.”
With the game tied at 2-2, the Mets loaded the bases on righthander Reynaldo Lopez (2-7) with no outs. Rafael Ortega lined one to right field that went right at Hunter Renfroe, but the outfielder couldn’t glove it and pinch-runner Tim Locastro scored easily.
Peterson turned in what could arguably be considered his best performance of the year. He limited the Angels to one earned run on three hits over seven innings, walking three and striking out eight to match his season-high mark. Peterson walked three and struck out eight, which tied his seasonhigh mark. It was the first time all season the lefty went a full seven innings, at least at the major league level.
“We needed a starter to get deep in the game and Pete dialed that up for us,” said manager Buck Showalter.
Even more impressive, Peterson was able to retire Shohei Ohtani all three times he faced the AL MVP candidate. Ohtani has terrorized the Mets all weekend, reaching base safely eight times until Sunday.
“He kept Ohtani from hurting us,” Showalter said. “That’s quite a feat.”
Ohtani went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts on the day and 0-for-3 with one strikeout against Peterson.
“You mix it up, move it around and try to keep him off balance,” Peterson said. “It was just kind of, see where I can pitch him, let the game dictate it, try and finish him off and get him out of there.”
Right-hander Drew Smith also handled Ohtani with relative ease, but the hitter who came before him gave the reliever trouble. With the score tied at 1-1 in the eighth, Anaheim’s leadoff man Luis Rengifo teed off on a middle-middle slider and took it over the fence.
Adam Ottavino (1-4) earned his first win of the season with a scoreless ninth to give the Mets (60-71) a chance to walk it off and salvage the series. The Angels (63-68) took the first two contests to win the series.
The Mets stayed resilient, tying the game in the bottom of the inning. Francisco Lindor extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a single off reliever Matt Moore. Pete Alonso doubled him home.
This came one night after Alonso was beaned in the head with a curveball. The Mets slugger was eager to play again after the controversy that ensued. The manager sensed some trepidation as he got back into the batter’s box, but Alonso didn’t show any as he went 2-for-4 with an RBI.