David Peterson’s Outing Spoiled By A Three-Run Fifth Inning

New York Mets starting pitcher David Peterson has been very much hot and cold in his second season in the majors this year.

In Wednesday night’s outing against the Atlanta Braves, Peterson was magnificent through the first four innings.

The left-hander set down the first 10 hitters he faced, recording five strikeouts, before allowing a one out single to Freddie Freeman in the fourth.

However, Peterson has had some bad starts this year, where he completely unravels in an inning, and tonight was no different. After four dominant frames, Peterson completely fell apart in the fifth.

With Austin Riley standing on third with two outs, Peterson plunked catcher William Contreras. He then gave up the lead by surrendering a single to former Met Guillermo Heredia. But that’s not all, opposing pitcher Charlie Morton smacked an RBI single back up the middle to put the Braves ahead 2-1.

Following a mound visit from pitching coach Jeremy Hefner, Peterson walked Ronald Acuna, but the ball got away from catcher James McCann, which allowed the third run of the inning to come home and score.

This forced Mets manager Luis Rojas to lift Peterson from the game in favor of Drew Smith, who was able to limit the damage to just three runs in the frame.

Peterson’s final line for the night was: 4.2 innings, three runs on five hits, five strikeouts and one walk. His ERA on the season shot up to 4.97.

With Jacob deGrom and Taijuan Walker on the injured list, the Mets currently have two healthy starters in their rotation in Peterson and Marcus Stroman.

While Stroman has been nothing short of amazing this year, Peterson has been inconsistent at best. The 25-year-old must improve if he hopes to keep his spot in the rotation once Carlos Carrasco and Noah Syndergaard return.