David Peterson was just three outs away from another great outing in the Mets’ opener against the Baltimore Orioles on Monday night.
After pitching six stellar innings, the left-handed hitter came back for the seventh inning against the bottom inning, and he immediately ran into trouble when Ryan Bergkasteel hit a leadoff double down the right field line.
Peterson nearly danced out of harm’s way, but a two-out bar with Mountcastle in third, and a Ramon Urias a solo home run on the next pitch added two more runs to his tally before his night was over.
“That’s my fault, I should have stepped down and reset the clock there,” he said after the game. “Then I threw a fastball in the zone on the beam, he saw that, and we threw a sinker and he was able to hit it out. We should have done it differently, that’s my fault.”
Still, Peterson kept the Mets in the game against a strong offense, finishing with a strong tally of three runs allowed (two earned) on six hits, one walk and eight strikeouts in seven innings.
Despite the rough finish, Carlos Mendoza had nothing but good things to say about the consistent positive efforts he’s seen from the former first-round pick.
“I thought he was really good,” he said. “He’s been really good for us, but I thought today was one of his best outings of the year. His misses were close, he used all his pitches and just kept attacking against a good team out there.”
Peterson has certainly been very good since returning from a two-month absence due to a hip injury, as Francisco AlvarezThe walk-off home run gave the Mets their 11th victory in the 14 games he started this season.
And he has been particularly dominant lately as New York looks to stay in the thick of the NL Wild Card race. He has a 1.43 ERA and has made three solid starts in four games in August.
“I just go in with a plan and execute,” Peterson said. “I’ve been able to capitalize on all my pitches. I’m learning from my last start how to get better for my next one, and I’m just going to keep trying to give the team a chance to win every time I take the ball.”
