Mets need David Peterson to return to form and steady rotation before it's too late

One night after their pitching piggyback was a roaring success, the Mets’ rotation reality smacked them once again on Wednesday. On David Peterson’s turn, the Mets were back to their normal starter usage – one guy, his game. Let’s just say the results were not nearly as encouraging as those delivered by the Clay Holmes-Sean Manaea combo in the opener of this series against the Padres, and now thorny questions loom about Peterson going forward.

Peterson didn’t exactly get shelled, but he didn’t exactly do anything that should make the Mets feel comfortable about giving him an October start, either. You know, if the Mets can actually make the playoffs.

Peterson allowed six runs in five innings, the big blow coming on a Manny Machado grand slam in the fifth inning that tilted a tie game. The Padres went on to win, 7-4, and the Mets bungled a chance to put more distance between them and the Diamondbacks in the race for the third NL Wild Card. Arizona had lost earlier in the day, just as the Mets’ grounds crew was taking the tarp off the diamond at Citi Field, so the Mets still own a 1.5-game lead.

Again, Peterson didn’t get mauled – the Padres loaded the bases in the fifth on a hit batsman, a walk and a bunt single by Luis Arraez before Machado’s slam. And they got a run in the second on two bloop hits sandwiched around a groundout. Still, Peterson’s final line was ugly, in line with much of his poor second half. In 11 starts since making his first All-Star team, Peterson has a 5.71 ERA.

“It’s obviously tough when you know what you’re capable of,” Peterson admitted of his struggles. “You're gonna go through times where it's not going exactly how you want it to, whether it's baseball or whether it's something that you're not necessarily executing. But you know you can't hold onto it. Look at it as objectively as possible and correct things that need to be worked on and move forward.”

With the playoffs looming, Peterson must revert back to the ace-type that he was earlier in the season if the Mets hope to reach October and go on a run similar to last season. And the Mets have to help him get there.

“When he’s at his best, he’s getting a lot of ground balls,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “He’s inducing weak contact. He’s using all of his pitches when he’s ahead and he’s able to get swings and misses with the secondary pitchers. And we haven’t seen that for quite a bit.”

Still, Mendoza said, he trusts Peterson going forward.

“We trust him and all of the guys here,” Mendoza said. “We only got, what, 10 more (games) to go in the regular season. We need him. He’s been a big part of this team. But it’s been a struggle for him. We want to do everything moving forward to put guys in position to help us win baseball games.

“We’re counting on him.”

The Machado home run came on a 3-2 curveball that Machado swatted for his 14th career grand slam. Asked how he felt about the pitch when he threw it, Peterson replied, “Felt fine about it. I shook to that pitch and felt like I threw a good, competitive pitch down and away. And he’s a really good hitter and he was able to give them a gap there in the game.”

That is where the outing spun out of control for Peterson. His season has, too. As recently as Aug. 6, Peterson had a season ERA below 3.00 (2.98). It now sits a full run higher.  He was one of the few reliable sources of length in the rotation, too, a problem that’s plagued the Mets all year. Now it plagues Peterson, too. 

Wednesday’s loss dropped him to 9-6 and was the third time in his last seven starts he’s given up six or more runs. Earlier this season, he was working on a since-dead streak of 56 consecutive starts in which he did not allow more than five runs, according to the Mets.

Still, Mendoza confirmed postgame that Peterson will indeed make his next start. Would Peterson perhaps be a consideration for some kind of piggybacking scenario, too, at some point?

“We just got done with this turn,” Mendoza said. “We’re already doing it with two guys.”

But, the manager added, “I mean, everything’s on the table because we’ve got to win baseball games.”

Starting soon. They had won two in a row before losing Wednesday. Was that just a quick palate cleanser before another course of losing? The sands in the 162-game hourglass of the season are rapidly running out.

In a season in which there are no behemoths in either league, it’d be a shame if the Mets aren’t able to take their chances in October. They’ve got to get there first, though. And they’ll need a better David Peterson to do that.