It wasn’t all that long ago that David Peterson looked like an ace. The pitching staff’s workhorse, Peterson could be counted on every 5-6 days when the rest of the rotation crumbled around him this season.
Now, he’s hit a slump of his own, 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 night at Citi Field.
The series is even at 1-1, with right-hander Jonah Tong looking to secure the series win for the Mets (78-74) on Thursday afternoon. The Mets are up on the Arizona Diamondbacks by only 1.5 games and 2.0 games ahead of the San Francisco Giants and Cincinnati Reds.
“We’re in a good spot, but we’ve got to get going today,” said 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 in the fifth, Peterson’s command wavered. He hit a batter, walked a batter and gave up a bunt single with one out. With the count full to Machado, the third baseman swatted a full-count curveball, nearly driving it to the second deck in left-center field.
San Diego (83-69) went up big, 6-2.
“I threw a good competitive pitch down and away,” Peterson said. “He’s a really good hitter and he was able to give them a gap there.”
The pitch was where he wanted it. He didn’t hang it, and he located it well. It was a good pitch out of the hand, but it didn’t miss the bat. He didn’t miss many at all Wednesday, walking three and striking out only one.
The Mets plan to keep him in the rotation for his next start.
“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,” said manager Carlos Mendoza. “We haven’t seen that here for quite a bit. So we’ve got to get him right.”
Two solo home runs helped the Mets chip away at the lead, one from Juan Soto in the fifth inning off right-hander Nick Pivetta, and one from Francisco Alvarez to start the seventh inning off right-hander Jeremiah Estrada. The home run from Alvarez came after the Mets caught a break in the sixth, when Luis Arraez was thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double, and Elias Diaz failed to tag the plate before the out.
It looked as though the Mets would rally in the bottom of the seventh when Cedric Mullins walked and stole second. Soto appeared to uncork a game-tying home run off right-hander Mason Miller, driving a 102 MPH fastball deep to left field, but 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 said. “It was fair most of the time, and just at the end, it hooked a little bit.”
The ball cleared the left field foul pole by mere inches, with a replay confirming the trajectory was too far to the left. Soto and Alonso struck out to end the inning. They remained down by two runs.
Again, the Mets caught a break in the eighth, catching Fernando Tatis Jr. in a rundown for the second out of the inning. Right-hander Ryan Helsley retired Arraez to keep the game close.
But the Mets were no match for one of the best bullpens in baseball. Miller retired the side in order in the eighth, and closer Robert Suarez pitched around a leadoff single from Brett Baty, and a two-out walk in the ninth for the save (39).
The Mets remain winless when down after eight innings, 0-65.
Pete Alonso hit his 36th home run of the season in the first inning to tie the game at 1-1, and Starling Marte hit one in the fourth, tying the game again, this time at 2-2. Nick Pivetta allowed three earned runs on seven hits and struck out five over 4 2/3 innings.
Peterson (9-6) didn’t last much longer than Pivetta. The New York bullpen had two days off, going unused Tuesday and a team off-day Monday, but after giving up the grand slam, the Mets still had Peterson finish the inning without any further damage.
“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 said. “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 became the 46th different pitcher used by the Mets this season, a new league record.
When Ramon Laureano homered off right-hander Ryne Stanek in the eighth, fans hit the turnstiles.
The Mets aren’t out of it yet, but they’re still treading water, as they have been since the middle of June. Eventually, the only choices will be to sink or swim.
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