It took a few innings but the Mets’ offense got untracked and delivered eight runs on 11 hits. And for a change, the pitching bent but did not break. The end result was an 8-4 victory over the Giants, which gave the Mets their first series win since May.
The Mets put up crooked numbers in both the third and fourth innings and jumped out to a 5-1 lead. Then, Buck Showalter went to his bullpen, pulling David Peterson after just four innings and 61 pitches. The ESPN announcers didn’t think it was worth commenting on, much less finding out the reason for the early hook.
Grant Hartwig gave two scoreless innings. But then the bullpen cracks began to show. Jeff Brigham gave up another homer, as the Giants scored three times in the seventh inning to make it a one-run game.
But the Mets went small-ball to add an insurance run. After Pete Alonso ripped a double, a Jeff McNeil weak grounder to the right side served a purpose, moving Alonso to third. And then Mr. Single himself, Starling Marte, blooped a ball to shallow center field to drive in a run.
Brooks Raley, who got the final out in the seventh inning, came back for the eighth. He retired two batters but because a righty came up, Showalter brought on Adam Ottavino. Next thing you know, the bases were loaded. But Ottavino struck out J.D. Davis to end the inning.
Tommy Pham capped a three-hit night with his second double of the game in the eighth inning and he came in to score on a no-doubt homer by Alonso, giving the Mets a four-run lead.
David Robertson had a 1-2-3 ninth inning to finish off the game.
Nice win and finally a series win. Pham has been playing great. May be time to cash in on Pham before he wakes up and realizes he is Tommy Pham.
All in all a nice game. Four scary but efficient innings out of Peterson. McNeil and Marte getting hits, Nimmo 0-3 but scoring two runs, Alonso, Pham and Canha. Love it. Dbacks are next with Senga, Scherzer and Cookie on the mound for us. It will be a tough series as they are playing well. Day off to rest the pen.
It’s not just the ESPN announcers who passed on Showalter’s decision to pull Peterson so early. I’ve been looking for an answer on other sites and no reporter/commentator seems to even be asking the question, except you, Brian. But lots of fans are asking it wherever I’ve looked. If anyone’s seen an answer please post it in response.
The NY Daily News had this nice quote from Peterson: “I felt like I could keep going,” Peterson said postgame. “I felt like we got off to a good start and obviously the offense gave us a good cushion there by putting up some runs. It’s a great team win, a good series win.” This was a smart team-focused reply, even while it left Showalter’s decision-making subtly in question.
I don’t expect much from the post-game press conference. But I’m shocked that no one asked Showalter about this. I can’t find any video of Showalter’s presser. If I come across anything, I’ll post it here.
Somebody asked the question on a Tim Britton article in The Athletic. Here was his response:
Tim Britton
· 1h 56m ago
STAFF
@Steve L. Showalter mentioned the forecast playing some role in it — that there was a chance at that point that the game might not go nine innings. I also think the number of hard-hit balls off Peterson and that he was about to go through the lineup a third time probably played a role in that decision.
Thanks, Brian. The answers don’t satisfy. Sholetwalter should have let Peterson start the fifth and make a decision to pull him if the Giants were threatening to score.
Gut Reaction: I didn’t see the game because I was at a minor league game. ( and for you wise guys, I wasn’t at CitiField).
I know that Peterson can be maddeningly inefficient but 61 pitches and only 1 run and to turn the games over to the middle innings relievers is flirting with disaster. He did 110 pitches in his last game and he wasn’t stellar either, but he survived. Let him pitch with a 4 runs lead to get the win. He could have surprised us and went 2 innings more.
Good game and that fan who fell out of the stands re-emerged in the 9th inning.
Buck was desperately trying to win a series, especially with an off day.
The reality with Peterson is that he has t pitched well in either of his return starts. Frankly, he has been poor, not looking any different than the performances that got him sent down. The only thing he had done is to reduce the runs crossing the plate. That is worth something for sure, but it is just a matter of time and Buck sensed it. I don’t like early hooks in general, bytvI can’t blame him last night.
Mets unbeaten in July. If they go unbeatenfit the rest of the month, they may gain a game or two on the Braves.
Before he got sent down, Peterson had a 1.744 WHIP, a 1.85 HR/9 and opponents had a .936 OPS against him
Since his return, he has a 0.700 WHIP, hasn’t given up a HR and opponents have a .660 OPS
It’s all of 10 IP so the sample size is tiny. But what we’ve seen in these two starts has been miles better than what he was earlier. If you want to say he’s been nothing special these past two starts, that’s fine. But he was horrific earlier. And going from horrific to nothing special is a pretty good jump.
I agree with TJ. While we want the starters pitching more innings and the middle relievers pitching less, at this point even with some decent numbers since coming back up I don’t think of Peterson as a much better option than the middle relievers, particularly when he hadn’t exactly dominated during the game. I can’t kill
Buck for this move.
I’ve got Peterson with 2 starts since his banishment, brought up by need. Last night he gave up 3 hits, 3 walks, and a HBP in 4 innings. That’s bad. The prior start he was decent – 5 hits and 3 walks in 6 innings. Overall, 8 hits, 6 walks and an HBP in 10 innings. In AAA, he pitched to a 4.9 ERA and 1.62 WHIP. He hasn’t really solved much…he pecks around the zone and gives up long balls when he avoids the walks. I’m not ready to give up on him, but at this point he’s lucky to get through the order twice.