On Sunday afternoon, David Peterson, who is among the top contenders for the New York Mets’ fifth starter spot, took the mound in Port St. Lucie against the St. Louis Cardinals for his second exhibition start.

Peterson tossed four innings, allowing three runs on five hits, walking two and striking out one. He threw 68 pitches, 41 for strikes. Peterson began his day by retiring the first two hitters, both on fine defensive plays — one by second baseman Luis Guillorme and the other by shortstop Francisco Lindor.

After getting those two outs, Peterson allowed singles to Yadier Molina and Tyler O’Neill, then walked Matt Carpenter and served up a pitch to Jose Rondon that was smacked into left field for a two-run single. After the game, Peterson lamented his performance in the first three innings. “Getting two quick outs and then letting guys on is unacceptable in my eyes. Cleaning up what happened in the first three. I’m looking forward to my next start.”

The Cardinals scored their third run off Peterson in the top of the third on a sacrifice fly by Rondon after singles by Molina (are you surprised?) and O’Neill, and a long fly ball by Carpenter. Peterson expressed some disappointment in his outing after leaving the game. “Plenty to take away from today, plenty to work on going forward. I’m looking forward to my next start.”

Seems like he’s looking forward to getting on the mound again.

In the game’s telecast, Ron Darling said during the first inning that Peterson’s effectiveness is fairly straightforward — if he keeps the ball down and induces ground balls, he will be successful. If not, he will struggle. In this game, Peterson recorded six outs on the ground and four in the air. That’s where he needs to improve. Among the balls that were hit in the air, the RBI single by Rondon, Carpenter’s fly ball, and the sacrifice fly by Rondon were hit quite hard.

Last year, Peterson sparkled in his major league debut, posting a 6-2 record with a 3.44 ERA and a 123 ERA+. He allowed just 36 hits in 49.2 inning pitched. Walks were a bit of a problem, though, as he allowed 4.3 walks per nine innings.

This spring, Peterson has lots of competition for the last rotation spot, but it’s mostly coming from newly-acquired hurlers Joey Lucchesi and Jordan Yamamoto.Peterson, by his own admission, will need to be better than he was on Sunday to secure a spot in the Mets’ 2021 rotation.