David Peterson Debut Knocked The Red Sox Off

The fun part about MLB debuts is you can never quite be sure how it will go. Will they be the player they were in the minors? Will the stage be too big for them? Or, will they rise to the occasion and take their game to the next level?

On the last one, we have seen Jacob deGrom and Seth Lugo do that. They’re now the best starter and reliever in the game. That should get you all the more excited seeing David Peterson tonight.

Peterson raised his velocity from the high 80s to low 90s to 94 MPH. He showed slightly better control. He rose to the big moments.

Case in point was the third inning. Former Met Kevin Plawecki hit a routine fly ball J.D. Davis misplayed into a double. After an ensuing walk to Andrew Benintendi, Brandon Nimmo sprinted and dropped a deep Jose Peraza fly ball to load the bases.

Peterson responded by striking out J.D. Martinez. Then, he got the ground ball he needed. It was an odd play where Robinson Cano was ruled to have caught a ball he seemed to short hop. The second base umpire had a delayed out call leading to Benintendi taking off for third.

Benintendi was finally tracked down in the run down as Plawecki scored. At that time, it was 3-1 Mets.

The Mets got that lead with a three run third. The first run game on a Cano RBI double. After that double, Nimmo was walked to load the bases. Amed Rosario then delivered a bloop single scoring two.

With the lead, Peterson was pitching well despite not getting much help from his defense. As mentioned above, Davis misplayed a ball, and we’d see Jeff McNeil throw a ball away. On McNeil, his arm may be something which needs monitoring because his throws to first haven’t been good. Really, the only standout defensive play came from Michael Conforto.

After that odd third inning run, Peterson starting putting up a string of zeros. That I included his inducing an inning ending double play to end the fifth.

Peterson hit the end of the line in the sixth. Rafael Devers and Kevin Pillar hit a pair of doubles pulling the Red Sox to within 5-2. Drew Smith came in for Peterson, and he had another impressive performance striking out Mitch Moreland to end the inning.

While Smith was impressive, the story was Peterson. He was much better than you could’ve hoped. With the increased velocity and better control, he suddenly changed what could be his ceiling. You could not ask for a better debut than this.

Justin Wilson and Dellin Betances each put together scoreless innings out of the bullpen. In a three run eighth, Nimmo and McNeil hit a pair of RBI doubles to increase the Mets lead to 8-2.

On that note, Cano started that rally. TGIF was a great night for him where he seemed rejuvenated. Overall, he was 2-for-3 with a run, double, and an RBI.

In fact, for the second straight night, the Mets offense was clicking. Overall, Yoenis Cespedes and Pete Alonso were the only two Mets without a hit. However, both would reach base safely with Alonso drawing a walk and Cespedes getting hit by a pitch.

Overall, if you’re looking for something to lament, Hunter Strickland struggled again allowing a run in the ninth. Still, there’s no need to focus on that with the Mets beating up on the Red Sox again and getting to over .500.

Today would normally be a good day. With Peterson’s great debut, it was a phenomenal day.

Game Notes: Despite entering the game as the team’s RBI leader and homering yesterday, Dominic Smith was benched again. In response to the Marlins COVID19 outbreak, they’re being shut down for the week. The Phillies series against the Yankees has been canceled, and the Yankees will play the Orioles instead.

2 Replies to “David Peterson Debut Knocked The Red Sox Off”

  1. David Klein says:
    July 29, 2020 at 9:32 am

    JD helping Peterson out by throwing Peraza out was huge and Peterson showed plenty of poise after the ump cost him a strike out against Martinez on a 2-2 count and he came back to still strike out JD was impressive. David getting out of the bases loaded no outs jam was damn impressive too as he threw some nasty sliders and sinkers. Peterson pitched against type by getting a bunch of fly outs instead of grounders but he got a couple big grounders in big spots. Peterson did a nice job mixing up his pitches and worked both sides of the plate.

    Big game from Cano driving some pitches and even drawing a walk hopefully he’ll have a dead car bounce this year. Rosario had a big hit early n the game but his last four at bats were dreadful as he swung at 12 of the 13 pitches he saw most way out of the strike zone. Rosario is improving but him batting lead off is freaking moronic.

    Another quietly solid night for Nimmo drawing a walk ahead of Rosario’s key hit and also a big double adding an insurance run please lead him off against everyone I don’t have much more hair to pull out.

    JD had a big game with his homer hitting the pesky pole and his excellent throw he’s a very bad OFer but he sure can throw.

    The Mets offense looked much better as they drew four walks and chased a little less—nice to see McNeil drive that double but man has his defense been bad though the last non out on his throw was on Alonso— and Pete who besides for that walk had another bad game I’d give him a night off tomorrow.

    Drew Smith looked great getting a big out and his stuff looked great hopefully he’ll still be here when Gsellman, Brach and Hughes return and hopefully he gets shots in high leverage spots more and more.

    Brodie has done very little right but the Justin Wilson has been great as his stuff is playing up and his cutter is filthy I’d love to see him back in 2021 and beyond.

    I said on Sunday if the Mets offense didn’t hit Boston’s terrible pitching I’d be worried well worried no more hopefully they can beat on Evoldi and Perez the next few nights and dive deGrom some support for once

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