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David Peterson (AP Photo/Jessie Alcheh)
QUEENS — This is the David Peterson that Mets manager Buck Showalter has been opining for throughout the 2023 season.
Sunday afternoon at Citi Field saw New York’s southpaw starting pitcher spin his best start of the campaign, going seven innings for the first time this year while allowing just one run on three hits with eight strikeouts in a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Angels.
This comes in just his fifth start since returning to the starting rotation after he was demoted to the bullpen in July.
“It was good to get back on track,” Peterson said. “In-game, that’s one of the best I felt this year. It felt good to get deep into the game again and get over 100 pitches, especially after the build-up. That’s one of the ones in which I felt better.”
That initial move to the pen was prompted by the return of Jose Quintana as much as it was his 6.46 ERA as a starter, which also included a five-week demotion after he was hammered for six runs on nine hits on May 15 against the Washington Nationals to skyrocket his season ERA at the time to 8.08. The crux of those struggles came from his mechanics which ultimately hampered his command.
“It’s about repeating things and body control,” Showalter. “He’s not my height and he’s not your height. He’s 6-foot-6 and there’s a lot of moving parts in there.
“Everybody’s trying to chase a delivery that they can stay in so you can execute pitches and when you get out of it, can you self-coach yourself to get back in it? That’s the challenge that all pitchers face.”
But when the Mets traded Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander at the Aug. 1 deadline, there was no choice but to call Peterson back into the rotation alongside Tylor Megill — both of whom appeared to be getting one last opportunity to show the organization that they’re…
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