David Peterson Continues All-Star Season

The Mets were coming off two consecutive losses on Sunday, in danger of getting swept in their first series after the All-Star break. They handed the ball to David Peterson, who, all of a sudden, has become the stopper in the Mets rotation. Peterson, making his first appearance after his first All-Star game, lived up to the moniker, going six innings without giving up an earned run, and helped New York salvage the final game of the series.

In the past 35 games, the Mets have received just five starts of at least six innings. David Peterson has thrown all of them. It’s hard to simplify a team with a single stat, but that about sums it up for this most recent stretch. The Mets are 12-20 since Peterson threw the first complete-game shutout of his career, and the culprit has been an array of blow-up innings, either by the starters or the bullpen, and an overworked rest of the pitching staff has been the result.

Peterson was able to avoid the big inning on Sunday, getting the Reds to ground into a double play with two on and no one out in the first and striking out Matt McLain with the bases loaded to end the second. Peterson faced the minimum in his final four innings of work, allowing just one unearned run during the afternoon. He was able to hand the ball to the team’s high-leverage relievers with a lead, and despite an Edwin Díaz hiccup in the eighth inning, the Mets came away victorious.

“We’re obviously trying to go as deep as we can in every game,” Peterson said postgame. “That’s our job.”

Peterson was able to have success with his patented fastball-slider combination. The Mets lefty threw his fastball over 50 percent of the time, and despite an average velocity of under 92 mph, was able to limit the hard contact. His four-seamer, which he threw 29 percent of the time, had an average exit velocity of 87.8 mph.

His slider, as it often is, was his wipeout pitch. Hitters swung at the pitch eight of the 20 times, and they only put the ball in play once, a sixth-inning ground out by Elly De La Cruz.

The Mets’ top five starters are currently making their first turn through the rotation, so this team is capable of attaining stability. As the dog days of summer continue, that will be crucial, both for a team looking for wins in a crowded National League playoff field, as well as a team figuring out what it needs at the upcoming July 31 trade deadline.

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