It wasn’t all that way back that David Peterson appeared like an ace. The pitching workers’s workhorse, Peterson could possibly be counted on each 5-6 days when the remainder of the rotation crumbled round him this season.
Now, he’s hit a stoop of his personal, and it couldn’t come at a worse time.
The left-hander gave up a grand slam to Manny Machado in a 7-4 loss to the San Diego Padres on Wednesday evening at Citi Discipline.
The sequence is even at 1-1, with right-hander Jonah Tong seeking to safe the sequence win for the Mets (78-74) on Thursday afternoon. The Mets are up on the Arizona Diamondbacks by only one.5 video games and a pair of.0 video games forward of the San Francisco Giants and Cincinnati Reds.
“We’re in a good spot, but we’ve got to get going today,” mentioned Mets slugger Juan Soto. “We cannot wait for tomorrow because tomorrow is going to be too late, so we’ve got to get going today — right now.”
Tied at 2-2 within the fifth, Peterson’s command wavered. He hit a batter, walked a batter and gave up a bunt single with one out. With the rely full to Machado, the third baseman swatted a full-count curveball, practically driving it to the second deck in left-center discipline.
San Diego (83-69) went up massive, 6-2.
“I threw a good competitive pitch down and away,” Peterson mentioned. “He’s a really good hitter and he was able to give them a gap there.”
The pitch was the place he wished it. He didn’t hold it, and he situated it properly. It was a very good pitch out of the hand, however it didn’t miss the bat. He didn’t miss many in any respect Wednesday, strolling three and placing out just one.
The Mets plan to maintain him within the rotation for his subsequent begin.
“When he’s at his best, he’s getting a lot of ground balls, he’s inducing weak contact, he’s using all of his pitches, and when he’s ahead, he’s able to get swinging misses with the secondary pitches,” mentioned supervisor Carlos Mendoza. “We haven’t seen that here for quite a bit. So we’ve got to get him right.”
Two solo dwelling runs helped the Mets chip away on the lead, one from Juan Soto within the fifth inning off right-hander Nick Pivetta, and one from Francisco Alvarez to begin the seventh inning off right-hander Jeremiah Estrada. The house run from Alvarez got here after the Mets caught a break within the sixth, when Luis Arraez was thrown out attempting to stretch a single right into a double, and Elias Diaz didn’t tag the plate earlier than the out.
It appeared as if the Mets would rally within the backside of the seventh when Cedric Mullins walked and stole second. Soto appeared to uncork a game-tying dwelling run off right-hander Mason Miller, driving a 102 MPH fastball deep to left discipline, however it went foul.
Barely.
“I know it had enough power to go out, I just didn’t know how long it was going to stay fair,” Soto mentioned. “It was fair most of the time, and just at the end, it hooked a little bit.”
The ball cleared the left discipline foul pole by mere inches, with a replay confirming the trajectory was too far to the left. Soto and Alonso struck out to finish the inning. They remained down by two runs.
Once more, the Mets caught a break within the eighth, catching Fernando Tatis Jr. in a rundown for the second out of the inning. Proper-hander Ryan Helsley retired Arraez to maintain the sport shut.
However the Mets had been no match for the most effective bullpens in baseball. Miller retired the aspect so as within the eighth, and nearer Robert Suarez pitched round a leadoff single from Brett Baty, and a two-out stroll within the ninth for the save (39).
The Mets stay winless when down after eight innings, 0-65.
Pete Alonso hit his thirty sixth dwelling run of the season within the first inning to tie the sport at 1-1, and Starling Marte hit one within the fourth, tying the sport once more, this time at 2-2. Nick Pivetta allowed three earned runs on seven hits and struck out 5 over 4 2/3 innings.
Peterson (9-6) didn’t final for much longer than Pivetta. The New York bullpen had two days off, going unused Tuesday and a staff off-day Monday, however after giving up the grand slam, the Mets nonetheless had Peterson end the inning with none additional harm.
“That first inning, a walk to Arraez ended up costing him a run, and then in the fifth inning that hit-by-pitch was one that kind of gets him in trouble there,” Mendoza mentioned. “There was some soft contact from some of the lefties… It was one of those outings where, even though they didn’t hit many balls hard, they hit the one there when they needed to.”
Peterson was relieved by rookie right-hander Dom Hamel, who turned the forty sixth completely different pitcher utilized by the Mets this season, a brand new league document.
When Ramon Laureano homered off right-hander Ryne Stanek within the eighth, followers hit the turnstiles.
The Mets aren’t out of it but, however they’re nonetheless treading water, as they’ve been because the center of June. Ultimately, the one decisions might be to sink or swim.
Initially Revealed: September 17, 2025 at 10:26 PM EDT
