Peterson, Mets Shutout Rockies

 

Daivd Peterson pitching to Randal Grichuk in the sixth inning. The scoreboard on Saturday night was done like Shea Stadium's in the '60s in honor of Old Timers Day. Photo by Jason Schott.

David Peterson has been one of the biggest surprises this season for the Mets, and he only keeps building on his phenomenal season as a stalwart in the starting rotation.

Saturday night, in the Mets' 3-0 win over the Colorado Rockies, Peterson showed how much he has grown as a pitcher, as he threw six shutout innings, allowing just four hits and no walks, with seven strikeouts, as the Mets went on to win 3-0, and he improved his record to 7-4 and lowered his superb ERA (earned run avarage) to 3.21. 

Early in the season, Peterson was known for routinely having to work around two, if not three, runners per inning. The first inning was one of those frames, as the Rockies got a pair of singles, but Peterson got Elias Diaz to pop out to second base to end the threat. That out began a run in which the left-hander retired 10 straight, before he allowed a single to Ryan McMahon in the fifth, and he then gave up a single to Jose Iglesias in the sixth, so the Rockies had just four runners against him in his outing.

The Mets' victory came after an afternoon of celebration as they held Old Timers Day for the first time ever at Citi Field, and the scoreboard mimicked Shea Stadium's in the 1960s in honor of the occasion.

The Amazin's improved to 82-46, 36 games over .500, the most since the final game of the 1988 season, which they finished 100-60. It also clinched a winning record with well over a month to go in the season, although they have much loftier goals.

Their lead in the National League East increased to three games as the Atlanta Braves coughed up a 4-0 lead in St. Louis and lost, 6-5.

The Mets came out firing, as Brandon Nimmo led off the bottom of the first inning with a solo home run, his 12th of the season, to make it 1-0.

Nimmo then got an RBI double in the second, which he corked into the right field corner. 

Those two runs held up until the seventh when Nimmo walked and came in to score all the way from first base when Starling Marte ripped a double to right field that split the defense and went to the fence, and that gave the Mets a 3-0 lead.

After Peterson exited, the Mets' bullpen had a perfect night, as Seth Lugo retired the Rockied in order in the seventh and notched two strikeouts, Trevor May did the same in the eighth, and then Adam Ottavino worked around a hit in the ninth to earn his second save of the season, both of which have occurred in this series.

This was the Mets’ 17th shutout of the season, which is the same number they had through 128 games in the 1969 and 1988 seasons. Only two teams in franchise history had more by this point of the season, the 1968 team with 19 and 2010, when they had 18.