David Peterson Dominates Elite Dodgers Lineup In Much-Needed Victory

A day after the New York Mets’ bullpen was forced to toss 10 1/3 innings in a 13 innings game that featured a lengthy rain delay, the team’s starting pitcher on Saturday night provided a much-needed performance. David Peterson toed the slab on Saturday against the mighty Los Angeles Dodgers and gave the fatigued Mets’ bullpen a rest, by throwing 7 2/3 terrific innings. This was exactly what New York needed after a marathon of a game the previous night.

Against the Dodgers Saturday, Peterson matched his previous career-high at the aforementioned 7 2/3 innings. Peterson struck out seven, allowed two runs on five hits, and walked only two. He did all that on only 99 pitches, and punctuated his outing by striking out superstar Shohei Ohtani for a third time on the night, which turned the contest over to Edwin Díaz for the remaining four outs.

Entering Saturday’s game, the Dodgers were top three in virtually every offensive category in the big leagues. Specifically, against left-handed pitching, Los Angeles owned the third-best wRC+ and ranked third in team OPS. With a lineup headed by superstars in Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman, it is by far the deepest lineup in the big leagues.

All this did not matter to Peterson, though, who quieted the Dodgers’ big guns. The big three in the Los Angeles lineup (Ohtani, Betts, and Freeman) combined to go 1-for-10 with three strikeouts. As mentioned above, all three of those strikeouts came against Ohtani. In his career, the Japanese superstar is now 2-for-11 against Peterson, with no extra-base hits and four strikeouts.

As far as the larger picture goes, Peterson was at his best because he was doing exactly what his game is built upon: generating ground balls. In the 5-2 Mets’ victory, Peterson induced 12 ground balls and got three ground ball double plays. That performance improved a ground ball rate, that entering Saturday, ranked in the league’s 92nd percentile at 57%.

On the season now, the 29-year-old Peterson owns a 2.79 ERA through 10 starts. In nine of those 10 starts, the former Oregon Duck has allowed two runs 0r fewer. After a tremendous 2024, Peterson is at it once again in 2025, though, with even better underlying metrics.

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