Mets’ David Peterson turns attention to second half after ‘awesome’ All-Star experience

David Peterson made his first All-Star appearance on Tuesday night. 

Like the rest of his Mets teammates, he was greeted with heavy boos from the Truist Park crowd as he was introduced during the pregame festivities.

The southpaw was then the fifth pitcher to enter for the National League on the night, and he continued a strong stretch of pitching for the squad. 

Peterson set down Riley Greene with a slider out of the zone, then got Aaron Judge to roll over to Francisco Lindor, before allowing back-to-back singles to Home Run Derby champ Cal Raleigh and Vlad Guerrero Jr..

He was able to escape the threat just two pitches later, though, getting Baltimore’s Ryan O’Hearn to roll one softly right back to him, officially closing the book on his first All-Star inning with no runs against. 

He threw just 12 pitches during the efficient outing, 10 of which were strikes. 

Peterson became the first Mets pitcher to throw a scoreless inning in the ASG since Jacob deGrom (2019) — funnily enough, the ace righty was in the opposing dugout on Tuesday representing the Rangers.

“It was awesome,” Peterson said. “To be out there and compete, to get Lindor a groundball and then finish the inning with an assist to Pete, it was a great experience — I’m very honored to be a part of this and I had a lot of fun these past couple of days.”

With his festivities officially in the books, Peterson now turns his attention to the second half of the season. 

The left-hander was spectacular for New York during the opening half of the year — stepping up masterfully with Kodai Senga and Sean Manaea sidelined to injuries, pitching to a 3.06 ERA and 1.23 WHIP over 18 outings.

Now that they are back, Peterson feels the Mets are in a good spot.   

“It’s exciting having those guys back,” he said. “Seeing Senga come back, seeing Sean for the first time, I’m excited — going to enjoy these next two days off but then get back to work and make that final push.”

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