David Peterson struggled again during the Mets’ loss to the Philadelphia Phillies, and manager Carlos Mendoza acknowledged they’ll need to have conversations about the starting rotation.
New York lost the rubber match of its three-game road set Sunday, 6-2, with the left-hander allowing four earned runs in four innings.
“Right out of the gate, there were a couple of walks that ended up hurting him,” Mendoza lamented, referring to Peterson issuing free passes to Trea Turner and Kyle Schwarber in the bottom of the first.
Both Turner and Schwarber came around to score in the inning thanks to two infield singles.
The skipper also felt that Peterson “was inconsistent with the two-seamer execution, and [the Phillies] got him.”
Philadelphia’s 2-0 lead ballooned to 5-0 the very next inning, when Schwarber tomahawked a slider which hung up and inside for a three-run homer.
“[Peterson] tried to go inside, but didn’t get inside enough,” Mendoza said of the game’s most impactful moment.
Peterson reflected on that at-bat, stating “I made a good pitch to Schwarber, it was where I wanted it to go, but gotta tip the cap.”
The southpaw did battle back after digging the early hole, at one point retiring eight straight Phillies batters.
“I felt like myself, pounding the zone, getting the ball on the ground, getting some strikeouts and whiffs,” Peterson explained postgame.
When asked whether he expects to get the starting nod for his next turn in the rotation, Peterson replied, “My job, regardless of the role, is to put good work in and be ready when I’m given the ball.”
“I’ll get back home, talk to [Mendoza] about the plan going forward and go from there,” he concluded.
From Mendoza’s perspective, especially with Christian Scott and Clay Holmes still out injured, the Mets have no other choice but to band together and find ways to win, regardless of what the starting rotation looks like.
“There’s no other way to look around it. These are the guys that we’re counting on, and we need to help them.”
However, the manager did concede that the current results on the mound aren’t cutting it, and a shakeup could be in the works.
“We have no off-days, so people need to step up. We’ll have conversations. We expect more out of them.”
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