On a night where Grimace threw out the first pitch, David Peterson made Mets fans do just that Wednesday through five shaky innings against the Miami Marlins. He was able to escape with the win. The Hamburglar would be proud.
Peterson, pitching on eight days’ rest because the Mets had three off days around their trip to London, gave up four runs on eight hits and two walks while striking out just one. Staked to an early 2-0 lead, he immediately gave up two runs in the second and vented between innings.
The Mets had a 5-2 lead when the lefty again ran into trouble in the fifth, surrendering back-to-back doubles to Otto Lopez and Bryan De La Cruz and a two-out RBI single to Jazz Chisholm Jr. He got Tim Anderson to ground out to end the inning on his 84th and final pitch of the night. He threw 59 strikes. The Mets went on to a 10-4 victory.
Since making his season debut after offseason hip surgery on May 29, Peterson is 2-0 with a 4.32 ERA and 1.50 WHIP. He has pitched 16 2/3 innings in his three starts, giving up eight earned runs on 20 hits and five walks.
Most surprising and concerning is he has just six strikeouts, since he has fanned more than one batter per inning for his career. In 111 innings over 27 appearances last season, Peterson struck out 128.
Going back to last season (5.02 ERA), Peterson has mostly struggled at the big league level, and the Mets have Christian Scott waiting in Triple-A to get his next opportunities in the big leagues.
