Mets’ David Peterson shuts out Nationals: ‘This is what we strive for’

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NEW YORK — With no one near him in the New York Mets dugout, David Peterson jumped up from his seat as soon as the Washington Nationals recorded the final out of the eighth inning.

Peterson was ready. He had spent the last handful of minutes avoiding eye contact with Mets manager Carlos Mendoza. He wanted the chance at a shutout.

Peterson was the first one onto the field for the ninth inning, planting his feet on the mound well before anyone else reached their position. Before catcher Luis Torrens left the dugout, Mendoza told him Peterson had maybe eight or nine pitches left to throw. Good thing for Peterson that pitch efficiency is just one of a handful of things he’s doing so well.

Peterson needed just nine pitches in the ninth inning to finish a shutout in the Mets’ 5-0 win over the Nationals on Wednesday night at Citi Field. In total, he threw 106 pitches. He allowed just six hits, no walks. He struck out six batters.

“This is what we strive for,” Peterson said.

First career complete game shutout for @_David_Peterson! 👏 #LGM pic.twitter.com/Km3ZN3Slid

— New York Mets (@Mets) June 12, 2025

Peterson was referring to the idea of a starting pitcher staying in a game as long as possible.

It’s a bygone concept.

“You don’t see this too often,” Mendoza said.

Peterson is a throwback. It was fitting he’d throw the Mets’ first shutout since Luis Severino’s gem last August.

Ask Peterson about how his expected numbers (expected ERA, expected slugging) point to regression each time he takes the ball, and he rolls his eyes with a smile.

It’s not that Peterson doesn’t care for numbers. He pores over scouting reports pregame, Mets outfielder Brandon Nimmo said, with intense inspection. It’s just that he feels expected numbers, in particular, don’t take into account the human element, the ability to execute the right pitch at the right location at the right time. Over and over again.

Ask the Nationals batters about Peterson’s expected numbers, and they raise their eyebrows, looking incredulous.

“There are a lot of guys, especially older vet guys, where the typical ‘stuff’ doesn’t grade out and they get outs year in and year out,” Nationals outfielder James Wood said in an interview after the game. “You gotta take those (expected numbers) with a grain of salt sometimes. You can’t really live and die by numbers like that. Numbers aren’t always gospel. He’s a good example.”

Why? Wood offered a simple explanation.

“He just knows his stuff, knows how it plays and just makes good pitches,” Wood said.

Peterson entered Wednesday’s game with a 2.80 ERA and a 3.78 expected ERA, mostly because he allows a lot of hard contact (he ranks among the bottom 15 percent in hard-hit rate allowed, per Baseball Savant. Among pitchers who have faced at least 200 batters this season, the difference between Peterson’s ERA and expected ERA is the 15th largest. Last year (2.90 ERA, 4.56 xERA), he owned the third-largest discrepancy.

Yet on Wednesday, he lowered his ERA to 2.49. Mets starters have pitched at least seven innings five times. Peterson is responsible for three of those games.

Good defense helps. Tyrone Taylor’s outfield assist (and Torrens expertly applying a tag) preserved the shutout in the eighth inning. Peterson racked up 13 outs on the ground.

Peterson allowed nine hard-hit balls. But there was only one extra-base hit: Luis Garcia’s double with one out in the eighth. So when Wood was told of the Nationals’ exit velocities, he refused to take much solace. Wood said Peterson pitched “a great game,” and he “didn’t want to take that away from him.”

Peterson used his four-seam fastball, sinker and slider around the same amount of time, near 30 percent. He also deployed his changeup and curveball. He worked unpredictably and unafraid, doubling up on sinkers or using a slider in the same spot consecutively. Peterson got ahead with first-pitch strikes to 22 of the 31 batters he faced. From there, he didn’t make it any easier. Throughout the game, he kept the Nationals off balance.

“Just the feel for pitching,” Mendoza said when asked what worked so well for Peterson. “That’s what makes him who he is.”

The Mets’ rotation’s ERA (2.91 heading into Wednesday) still ranks as MLB’s best without Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas, their two big signings from the offseason. Montas’ next rehab start is Friday in Triple A, while Manaea will pitch Sunday (location to be determined). Mendoza was noncommittal when asked if Montas, who is ahead of Manaea, would need another rehab outing after his next one. Left unsaid: With the way the Mets’ rotation is rolling, what’s the rush?

Yet for all the Mets’ starting pitching success — Kodai Senga’s dominance, Clay Holmes’ value, etc. — it’s Peterson who leads them in innings (79 2/3) and continues to pitch deep into games with the most consistency.

Mendoza spent the eighth inning Wednesday grilling pitching coaches Jeremy Hefner and Desi Druschel about how much Peterson had left in the tank. A few players stared at Mendoza in the eighth inning, essentially forbidding Mendoza with their eyes from removing Peterson.

“I just told him,” Peterson said, “let me finish this thing.”

When Peterson took the mound for the final inning, the crowd cheered. After Peterson recorded the first out in the ninth inning, fans chanted, “Pe-ter-son! Pe-ter-son!”

“Hearing the crowd when I came back out and hearing them get louder after every out was very special,” Peterson said.

Then Peterson struck out Wood on three pitches.

“The way he attacked Wood there,” Mendoza said, “I was like, ‘The game is over here.’”

Two pitches later, infielder Andres Chaparro grounded out to end the game.

After celebrating with his teammates on the field, Peterson embraced Mendoza and told him, “Thank you, skip.”

The way Mendoza saw it, Peterson couldn’t have deserved the opportunity more.

(Photo: Dustin Satloff / Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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