Peterson steps up at right time for Mets
A bout with shoulder fatigue was a speed bump for David Peterson as he blossomed into one of the few stable arms in the Mets’ ailing rotation. But he seemed to jump back in without missing a beat Saturday night. The 12th-ranked Mets prospect recorded a career-high 10 punchouts over
A bout with shoulder fatigue was a speed bump for
The 12th-ranked Mets prospect recorded a career-high 10 punchouts over six innings in a 7-2 victory over the Braves at Citi Field. Peterson yielded a run on three hits and a walk and threw 62 of 102 pitches for strikes.
He also matched his longest outing in the Major Leagues at an important time. The Mets, who are 1 1/2 games out of a Wild Card berth, hadn't had a starter pitch beyond the third inning in three consecutive contests.
"I felt ready to contribute in any way possible," Peterson said. "It's been a blessing for me to be up here and learn from the older guys and get some experience this year."
Take a bow, David Peterson.
— Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) September 20, 2020
The #Mets’ No. 12 prospect racked up 10 K’s tonight, a new career high 🔥 pic.twitter.com/a9yICtl9RK
The left-hander relied on the strikeout as his control got away from him in the early innings.
"Finding his fastball command was really the key for him," manager Luis Rojas told reporters. "We saw a few just go arm side for balls early in the game. He was able to make the adjustment where he was getting those pitches down and away for strikes."
Peterson worked around leadoff walks in each of the first two frames, ending each with consecutive strikeouts. He got another clutch punchout in the third to work around two walks and got a pair of whiffs in both the fourth and fifth innings.
"He was coming and he was pitching in and that helped to introduce the slider a lot to the right-handed hitters," Rojas said. "They had a right-handed hitter-heavy lineup, and he was able to land that fastball-slider against them. Got a lot of swing and misses."
The 2017 first-rounder yielded a two-out homer in the sixth to
"I think it was just a mixture of all the pitches felt good tonight. [I] felt consistent with every pitch," the Denver native said. "[The slider] always has been a pitch that I've had really good feel for, and tonight it was as good as it gets feeling-wise. ... I felt like I had it in any count."
The 25-year-old lowered his ERA to 3.80 and is averaging 7.59 strikeouts per nine innings.
Peterson was hit hard in his previous three appearances following a stint on the injured list. He was tagged for seven runs in as many innings in his past two starts, totaling five strikeouts. He was excellent in relief in his first game back on Sept. 2 in Baltimore, throwing four scoreless innings and allowing two hits and two walks.
Peterson, who often relies on his sinker for outs on the ground, recorded all 10 strikeouts swinging, using a mix of his four-seamer, sinker and plus slider. The University of Oregon product recorded only a pair of groundouts Saturday. He reached double-digit strikeouts twice in three Minor League seasons, first with Class A Columbia on June 9, 2018 and again on Aug. 30, 2019 with Double-A Binghamton. Peterson posted a 3.63 ERA with 243 punchouts over 247 2/3 innings in the Minors.
Third-ranked Mets prospect Andres Gimenez scored both times he reached base. MLB Pipeline's No. 86 overall prospect singled and was hit by a pitch to improve to .275 on the season.
Top Braves pitching prospect Ian Anderson (3-1) was saddled with his first big league loss. The No. 38 overall prospect allowed three runs on four hits and four walks with eight punchouts over 4 2/3 innings. Anderson has a 2.36 ERA with at least six strikeouts in each of his five starts in the Majors.
In other action:
Tigers 5, Indians 2
Daz Cameron scored a run and chipped in a pair of hits, including an RBI single in a four-run eighth inning. The seventh-ranked Tigers prospect had only two hits in his first 28 at-bats in the Majors before Saturday night. No. 6
White Sox 5, Reds 0
Third-ranked White Sox prospect
Rays 3, Orioles 1
Yankees 8, Red Sox 0
No. 3 Red Sox prospect
Athletics 6, Giants 0
A's No. 9 prospect
Angels 4, Rangers 3
Third-ranked Rangers prospect
Mariners 4, Padres 1
Recalled from the team's alternate site before the game, Padres No. 3 prospect
Marlins 7, Nationals 3
Second-ranked Nats prospect Luis Garcia had a pair of hits and a run scored for his fourth multi-hit effort in the past six games. The 20-year-old is batting .301/.321/.408 with 14 runs scored in 103 at-bats since getting the call to the Majors in mid-August. Top Nats prospect
Astros 3, D-backs 2
No. 4 Astros prospect
Cardinals 5, Pirates 4
No. 41 overall prospect Ke'Bryan Hayes homered, doubled and scored twice in the Pirates' loss. In the first inning, he drilled an 0-2 pitch from Kwang Hyun Kim over the center field fence for his third big league homer. Hayes doubled off Kim in the sixth and came home on a base hit by Colin Moran to give the Bucs a 3-0 lead. He's tied for second among Pirates since 1980 with nine extra-base hits -- one behind Barry Bonds -- in his first 17 games. Top Cardinals prospect
Brewers 5, Royals 0
Brewers No. 10 prospect
Gerard Gilberto_ is a contributor to MiLB.com. Follow and interact with him on Twitter, **@Gerard_Gilberto**._