NEW YORK -- After the top of the eighth inning Wednesday night at Citi Field, David Peterson returned to the dugout and tried to avoid his manager’s gaze. “I know I can’t be invisible,” Peterson said afterward, even if all 6-foot-6 of him wanted to crawl into a ball.
Eventually, manager Carlos Mendoza called Peterson into the clubhouse tunnel to gauge the left-hander’s disposition away from prying eyes and television cameras.
“Let me finish it,” Peterson told his manager.
Mendoza explained to Peterson, who was at 97 pitches, that he would allow him to throw only eight or nine more.
“Let me finish it,” Peterson repeated.
“All right,” Mendoza replied. “It’s yours.”
So it came to be that Peterson polished off the first Mets shutout by a left-handed pitcher since Steven Matz in 2019, blanking the Nationals over nine innings of a 5-0 victory. Peterson was masterful, mixing all five of his pitches in unpredictable patterns, allowing six hits and walking no one. He lowered his ERA to 2.49, fourth in the National League.
“You dream of doing stuff like this,” Peterson said. “We try and go as deep as we can in the game. To be able to go all nine was something very special.”
It was by far the best game Peterson has pitched in what has easily been his best big league season. He retired the first seven batters he faced and didn’t permit a runner past first base until the seventh. He responded to that two-on, no-out jam by striking out the next two hitters, fanning Andrés Chaparro on a back-foot slider and Nathaniel Lowe on a similar pitch that dived out of the zone.
“He was getting ahead and getting early contact,” Nationals outfielder James Wood said. “That let him go the distance.”
At that point, Peterson was at only 82 pitches, but his shutout again came into danger in the eighth, when Luis García Jr. hit a one-out double. The next batter, Jacob Young, singled to center, where Tyrone Taylor -- the Mets’ best defensive outfielder, who had entered the game only moments earlier -- scooped the ball and fired a 91 mph rope to home plate. Catcher Luis Torrens grabbed it and slapped a tag on García. The Nationals challenged both the out and the lack of a blocking call, to no avail.
“My eyes were closed there,” Torrens said through an interpreter.
With eight innings complete for the first time in his career, Peterson still wanted more. He told his manager as much. Once Mendoza relented, Peterson returned to the bench, toweled off his face and began studying the three hitters he would see in the ninth.
The Mets, who had already scored five runs on a pair of Brandon Nimmo homers, a Juan Soto two-run shot and a Pete Alonso RBI double, went down in order. So Peterson climbed back up the dugout steps and retook the field, cueing a standing ovation from the crowd of 40,681.
“I definitely felt like I had a boost, obviously knowing it’s the ninth and I was somewhat on a pitch count,” Peterson said. “At that point, I was just trying to empty the tank and give it everything I had left.”
In today’s game, this type of thing doesn’t happen often. Long gone are the days of Tom Seaver, who threw 44 shutouts over fewer than 12 full seasons in Queens. Before Peterson, the modern Mets had seen just three shutouts since 2020, and they were hardly alone. Until Wednesday, there had been six in the Majors this year.
So when Peterson returned for the ninth, the crowd acknowledged the relative rarity of the feat. Then Peterson went to work on the shortest of leashes, retiring his final three hitters on a lineout, a strikeout and a groundout. With the six-hitter complete, he pumped his fist and broke into a wide grin, hugging Torrens, who had also completed his first shutout as a catcher. Alonso embraced Peterson and handed him the ball, which he tucked away for safekeeping.
“I wasn’t satisfied with seven or eight innings,” Peterson said.
Part of the reason why Mendoza trusted Peterson in that spot was his growing track record of success. Since returning from left hip surgery late last May, Peterson has blossomed into one of baseball’s best pitchers. His 2.74 ERA since that time ranks eighth in the Majors, and he’s also one of only 13 pitchers with at least 200 innings over that stretch. Last October, Peterson moonlit as a reliever to establish himself on a national stage. This year, he has been the poster child of a rotation that has far exceeded expectations.
So when Peterson asked for the ball, Mendoza gave it to him, knowing he would not likely regret the decision.
“It’s just awesome to see him get some recognition, just because he’s been so good for us,” Nimmo said. “It’s been fun to see him grow up in front of my eyes.”