When Marcus Stroman went down with a calf muscle tear, we all wondered how the Mets early season starting rotation would look and who would replace him in the rotation.
Manager Luis Rojas insisted there was pitching depth in the organization to combat the temporary loss of Stroman coupled with the loss of Noah Syndergaard to Tommy John surgery. And last night David Peterson made his manager’s words seem prophetic,
He took the mound at Fenway and looked like a grizzled veteran showing ability and poise in his major league debut. “I felt like I went out there with weapons to go against the Red Sox and it was just all about keeping them on their toes and not letting them feel comfortable in the box”, said Peterson after the game,
He lasted into the sixth inning giving the Mets some length allowing 2 earned runs on seven hits while the Met offense continued to hammer the Bosox pitching staff as JD Davis homered, Amed Rosario drove in 2 early game runs and Robinson Cano , who has the highest batting average of any active MLB player in Fenway Park chipped in with a 2 hit night.
And when you look at the first 5 games through the season for the Met rotation you got 4 outstanding performances as deGrom, Matz, Wacha and Peterson all pitched well with the Rick Porcello start being the lone blemish of the week. And despite the Diaz blown save on Saturday, the bullpen for the most part has been effective as we saw from a trio of relievers last night with Justin Wilson, Dellin Betances, and even Drew Smith getting big outs.
The Mets continue their home and home series with the Red Sox at Citi the next two nights with Jacob deGrom and Steven Matz scheduled to toe the rubber,
And for David Peterson he returns to New York knowing he helped his team withstand some injuries on a night he enjoyed realizing a childhood dream hurling in his major league pitching debut, It will be a night he will never forget.