Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Trevor Williams has been valuable to the New York Mets all season long and showcased that value yet again in Wednesday’s 6-3 loss to the Chicago Cubs.
David Peterson started the game for the Mets and got shellacked in only 1/3 of an inning. He gave up three walks in a row to start off the game. Following a strikeout of Patrick Wisdom, Peterson allowed back-to-back RBI doubles to give the Cubs a 4-0 lead.
“I just didn’t throw enough strikes,” said Peterson. “It comes down to that. Got behind in counts. Got deep into counts. Didn’t throw enough balls over the plate.”
After only 29 pitches (12 thrown for strikes) and one out to show for it, Buck Showalter opted to take Peterson out of the game in favor of Williams.
“Obviously I put us in a big hole,” said Peterson. “It’s unfair to ask those guys to try and dig us out of that. The bullpen did a great job.”
Similar to Peterson, Williams did not fare so well to get things started, but unlike Peterson, he was able to settle in a lot sooner. Williams gave up back-to-back hits to allow another two runs to score, before striking out a pair to finally close the book on the inning.
Williams went on to retire 11 of his next 14 batters faced before he was replaced by Tommy Hunter. Overall, Williams pitched 4 1/3 innings and allowed four hits, one earned run, and one walk.
He also struck out a season-high eight batters, with six of the strikeouts coming consecutively. The eight strikeouts matched a career high and put Williams alongside Tug McGraw and Ray Sadecki as the only Mets relievers to strike out eight in a single game.
Williams’ performance helped take the pressure off the rest of the bullpen and allowed Showalter to limit the other relievers’ workload to 1 1/3 innings or less. That worked out well as Hunter, Trevor May, Alex Claudio, and Mychal Givens combined for 4 1/3 scoreless innings to keep the Mets in the game.
“We did a great job out of the pen,” said Showalter. “Trevor was great. Tommy, all of those guys, gave us a chance to get back in it.”
Williams has a 2.95 ERA with 74 strikeouts in 79 1/3 innings pitched this season. He has especially excelled this year as a reliever as he has pitched to the tune of a 1.77 ERA with 45 strikeouts in 40 2/3 innings pitched.
