Just when you thought the Mets couldn’t sink any lower during this sudden drop-off of play during the so-called easy part of their schedule, David Peterson threw them a shovel and told them to dig deeper on Wednesday night at Citi Field.
The southpaw starter, who had usually been so reliable when sporadically upon, was tagged for five runs in the first inning while recording just one out during frame in which the Chicago Cubs scored all of their runs in a 6-3 victory over New York.
It’s the first time this season that the Mets were swept in a three-game series with another major opportunity missed. The Atlanta Braves lost earlier on Wednesday to the San Francicso Giants, but an inability to take advantage means the lead atop the NL East remains at a half-game.
After walking each of the first three batters he faced, Peterson yielded two opposite-field doubles to Yan Gomes and PJ Higgins before getting the hook to put the Mets down 4-0 in a flash.
Trevor Williams was called in and couldn’t stop the bleeding, allowing a third consecutive RBI double to Michael Hermosillo — who scored on a single by the very next batter, Nelson Velazquez.
However, with the book closed on Peterson, Williams settled down into quite the groove, striking out six consecutive batters from the end of the first through the third inning.
He would go 4.1 innings, yielding just one earned run and four hits while striking out eight. He became just the third Mets reliever in franchise history to strike out eight or more batters in a single outing.
In total, the Mets bullpen allowed just that one run on five hits with 12 strikeouts.
Their efforts could hardly change what was already a foregone conclusion just five batters into the game. New York’s deficit was already far too great for a team that had scored just three runs in their previous two games against Chicago.
Tomas Nido got the Mets’ first hit of the night in the third inning to ensure that they not only wouldn’t be no-hit but wouldn’t be shut out, either. The backup catcher hit his second home run of the season, which came in consecutive at-bats dating back to Sunday after going his first 242 at-bats of 2022 without one.
While a Nido double play in the fifth killed what could have been a larger rally, the Mets got another one back when Brandon Nimmo’s grounder to third slipped under Patrick Wisdom’s glove and into right field, scoring Eduardo Escobar.
Pete Alonso slammed his second home run in as many nights in the eighth inning for his 35th of the season.
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