After two straight unfortunate starts, David Peterson redeemed himself as the second most reliable pitcher in the Mets’ starting rotation, picking up his fifth win of the season with his dominant performance over the first place Braves on Saturday evening.

Peterson went six innings, gave up one run, struck out 10, and only allowed three hits to the impressive Braves offense. He did walk four, but he worked around those walks and found success at a time that the Mets needed it most.

Peterson started off on a bad foot, walking leadoff man Ronald Acuña Jr. However, he bounced back and struck out MVP candidate Freddie Freeman on a foul tip. He then absolutely redeemed himself, catching Acuna lacking off of first base, picking him off for the second out of the frame. Marcell Ozuna struck out swinging to end the inning.

The second inning started off on a similar foot to the first, as Travis d’Arnaud worked a walk to begin the inning. Adam Duvall followed with a double, and Peterson looked to be falling apart. However, he impressively regained control in a way most rookies cannot do, getting Ozzie Albies to fly out before striking out both Dansby Swanson and Austin Riley swinging to finish off the inning.

With one out in the third, Peterson allowed his third walk of the night, again to the dangerous bat of Acuña. He then again got the best of Freeman, striking him out swinging, before walking his fourth batter of the game in Ozuna. With two men on, he got the best of d’Arnaud, striking him out swinging.

Peterson continued the trend of swinging strikeouts in the fourth, getting the best of both Duvall and Swanson. In fact, every single one of his 10 strikeouts were on the swing.

Riley doubled on a ground ball down the right field line, but Peterson again bounced back, getting Tyler Flowers to strike out, Acuña to ground out, and Freeman to strike out for the third time on the evening.

In his last inning of work, Peterson got Ozuna and d’Arnaud to fly out before allowing his only run of the evening via the long ball off the bat of Duvall. After a brief mound visit, he got his final batter to fly out to center field.

Peterson threw 102 pitches on the night, further cementing a problem he needs to work on. If he can get his pitches under control and become more efficient, Peterson could become a long-term problem for other NL East teams, as his four walks severely damaged his ability to dive deeper into Saturday’s game.