Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Taijuan Walker and David Peterson took the mound for the Mets on Friday as they kicked off their four-game series with the Philadelphia Phillies with a doubleheader at Citi Field
Walker is having the best season of his career, but has not had much success against the Phillies in 2021. In his first start against Philadelphia this season, Walker allowed just one run and struck out eight batters, but was unable to get through the fifth inning due to a lack of control. In his second start, Walker allowed four runs over six innings.
Walker set the tone quickly by making a great play on Odubel Herrera‘s bunt attempt to lead off the game. Rhys Hoskins followed with a strikeout before Bryce Harper flew out to Dominic Smith in left field to get Walker through an easy first inning.
The second inning was not much different than the first for Walker. J.T. Realmuto popped up the Pete Alonso to lead off the inning. Walker once again got a strikeout and a fly out to left field, this time from Alec Bohm and Travis Jankowski, to get through his second consecutive one-two-three inning.
Facing the bottom of the order, Walker looked like he would get through another easy inning. A Ronald Torreyes strike out and a groundout to second base from Nick Maton brought Aaron Nola to the plate. Nola came into the day with an .082 batting average and just four extra-base hits in 245 career at-bats. Nola ripped a fastball off the wall in left field for a hard-hit single that came close to giving the Phillies a 1-0 lead. Walker struck out Herrera looking to strand the Phillies’ pitcher at first base.
In the fourth, Walker kept cruising by getting Hoskins to ground out to Luis Guillorme at third base before striking out Harper on a high and outside fastball. Realmuto hit a jam-shot single against the shift with two outs, but was left on base after Bohm grounded out to third to end the inning.
The bottom of the Phillies’ order gave Walker unexpected trouble again in the fifth inning. After retiring Jankowski and Torreyes to start the inning, Maton drew a walk on a 3-2 pitch to bring Nola to the plate again. Nola, who had already tied Tom Seaver‘s record of 10 consecutive strikeouts while throwing a gem of his own, ripped another fastball to the gap in right-center to score Maton and give the Phillies a 1-0 lead. Walker retired Herrera to end the inning and his outing, but not before getting stung by his counterpart for the second time.
Walker pitched five innings while only allowing one run on three hits and a walk while striking out five. Much like the offense, he was unable to solve Aaron Nola. Fortunately for Walker and the Mets, the Phillies’ bullpen gave the Mets an unearned run in the seventh inning to get Walker off the hook from the tough-luck loss.
In Game 2 of the doubleheader, Peterson also faced the Phillies for the third time this season. The Phillies roughed up Peterson for six earned runs in four innings in his first start of 2021, but he responded with six strong innings allowing just one run in his second start against Philadelphia just one week later.
Peterson’s night looked like it could get off to a rocky start after he hit Herrera to lead off the second game, but he was quickly erased on a double play ball from Hoskins. Peterson got through the inning quickly after Harper grounded out to Francisco Lindor.
In the second, Peterson got his first strikeout of the night when he struck out Andrew McCutchen to lead off the inning. Bohm and Luke Williams both followed with groundouts to middle infielders to give Peterson his first one-two-three inning of the night.
After Torreyes flew out to centerfield to begin the third inning, Rafael Marchan singled on a ground ball that went against the shifted Mets infield. Peterson’s counterpart Matt Moore tried to advance the runner with a sacrifice bunt, but Mets’ catcher Patrick Mazeika pounced on the ball quickly and got the lead runner out. Peterson retired the side by striking out Herrera after a nine-pitch at bat.
Hoskins led off the fourth inning with a walk to once again put Peterson in trouble to start an inning. After a fly out to left from Harper, McCutchen hit into a 5-4 fielder’s choice. Jeff McNeil attempted to turn the double play, but his throw to first ended up in the Mets’ dugout to put McCutchen in scoring position. Peterson stranded McCutchen there by getting Bohm to fly out to center.
Like Walker in the first inning of Game 1, Peterson began the fifth inning by making a great play on a bunt attempt to get the first out. After making the play on Williams’ bunt and retiring Torreyes on a ground out to Lindor, Marchan hit his second single of the game to give up the middle. Peterson struck out Moore to retire the side and stand another runner on base.
Facing the top of the order in the sixth, Peterson retired Herrera on a fly out to center and struck out Hoskins on a back-foot slider. With Harper batting, Peterson made his first big mistake of the night. Ahead in the count 0-2, Peterson threw a high outside fastball that caught too much of the plate that Harper hit into the Mets’ bullpen to give the Phillies a 1-0 lead. Peterson walked McCutchen on four pitches before ending the inning on a strikeout of Bohm to finish his night.
Peterson went six innings, allowing just the one run on three hits and two walks while striking out five. Like Walker, Peterson was on the hook for a tough-luck loss before the Phillies’ bullpen gave the Mets an unearned run in the seventh inning to tie the game at 1 before losing in the eighth inning.
The two Mets starters had nearly identical lines in their starts on Friday:
Walker: 5 IP/ 3 H/ 1 ER/ 1 BB/ 5 K
Peterson: 6 IP/ 3 H/ 1 ER/ 2 BB/ 5 K
Despite the split in the doubleheader, the similar outings for the two starters were two more examples of how the Mets have been able to maintain their lead in the N.L. East for as long as they have. Even with both Phillies starters having scoreless outings, both Walker and Peterson were able to do enough to keep the team in the game long enough to cash in on mistakes by the Phillies’ relievers.
The bats have been disappointing to this point in 2021 due to injuries and underperforming players, but with the incredible job the pitching staff has done, they have been able to overcome the offensive shortcomings. The Mets organization has always been known as a pitching heavy organization, and they currently have the lowest team ERA in all of baseball. The work the pitching staff has done can give Mets fans plenty of hope of that this team is capable of a special run led by their pitching when the bats start to resemble last year’s offense.
