Heading into Saturdays evening soire versus the Miami Marlins, New York Mets left-hander David Peterson had been holding his own, pitching to a 3.86 earned run average (3.00 FIP) with 8.49 strikeouts and 2.3 walks per nine innings over his first two major league starts.

That will play.

In his first start at Citi Field in Flushing on Saturday, the 66 southpaw continued on his streak of effectiveness and, impressively so, did it with a fair amount of traffic on the bases throughout the night.

Three consecutive two-out base hits in the first from Jesus Aguilar, Corey Dickerson, and Brian Anderson resulted in an early 1-0 lead for Miami. Not an ideal start to the night, but it could have been worse.

The Aurora, Colorado product would issue two one-out walks in the second but induced a 5-4-3 double play off the bat of Jonathan Villar to escape the jam. Grace under fire; love to see it.

Peterson returned to the mound in the third with a 2-1 lead courtesy of Michael Confortos searing two-run homer to right-center field in the bottom of the second and recorded his first 1-2-3 inning of the evening.

Following Pete Alonsos 116.9 MPH exit velocity two-run blast in the bottom half of the frame, extending the Mets lead to 4-1, Peterson seemed all the more comfortable and set down Miami in order again, racking up two strikeouts in the inning (Anderson and Lewis Brinson, both swinging).

Peterson left a 91 MPH four-seamer over the heart of the plate for Logan Forsythe to lead off the fifth and the journeyman veteran sent it 410 feet out to deep-center, cutting the Mets lead to 4-2 but that would be the extent of the damage the big lefty would allow.

Over five innings of work (84 pitches, 46 strikes), Peterson allowed two earned runs on four hits with three strikeouts and three bases-on-balls, bringing his season ERA down to 3.78.

He picked up three whiffs apiece on 22 sinkers and 14 sliders respectively, and racked up a total of nine called strikes on his four-seamer (five, 35 pitches) and changeup (four on 10 offerings). Keep em on their toes, David.

Over his first two starts, Peterson showed excellent command over his arsenal, walking just three batters over 11.2 innings. On Saturday, putting them over the plate appeared to be a bit more of a chore for the left-hander.

There was two times that I threw seven balls in a row; that just cant happen. Down the road, thats gonna hurt and its just unacceptable on my part, Peterson said after the game. My job is to hunker down and get out of those innings.

The biggest thing for me in those is reducing the damage. Trying to get out [of] there with the least amount of damage as possible, he said. I didnt have the greatest command tonight, but if I walk some guys, I need to be able to get myself out of it.

Peterson did a fine job of getting out of trouble on Saturday. Lets hope this trend of efficaciousness continues.

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David Peterson Continues Solid Stretch in Win Over Marlins - metsmerizedonline.com