David Peterson throws complete-game shutout in Mets' win over Nationals
David Peterson of the Mets celebrates his shutout against the Washington Nationals with teammate Luis Torrens at Citi Field on Wednesday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
David Peterson didn’t look at his manager after the eighth inning of the Mets’ 5-0 win over the Nationals Wednesday.
The lefthander vows that he wasn’t trying to hide — “I can’t be invisible,” he said, standing a full head taller than everyone around him — but Carlos Mendoza felt otherwise.
“He didn’t want to give me a look,” Mendoza said. “Getting to know Petey now for almost a year, he’s a competitor. When a pitcher comes back to the dugout and he doesn’t want you to even look at him . . . ”
Mendoza trailed off then, but the implication was clear: If he wanted the ball from his starter, he was going to have to take it. Instead, they had a talk in the tunnel (eye contact was finally made), and Mendoza gave him the deal: Peterson could go for the complete game, but he had a short leash.
“Let me finish it,” Mendoza recalled Peterson saying. “ ‘Alright,’ he responded, ‘it’s yours.’ ”
After five tumultuous seasons that were sometimes riddled with injury and regression, Peterson appears to be fully announcing his arrival, and Wednesday night was the exclamation point: He allowed no runs and six hits, with no walks and six strikeouts in the first nine-inning complete game of his career, and the first by a Met this year. It’s the first complete-game shutout by a Mets lefty since Steven Matz did it in 2019.
With the win, the Mets (44-24) overtake the Tigers for the best record in baseball. They’ve won five in a row, and have an MLB-best 2.82 ERA.
“You dream of doing stuff like this,” said Peterson, who improved to 5-2 with a 2.49 ERA. “It was awesome. Mendy being able to give me that opportunity to finish it was huge and hearing them get louder after every out was very special.”
Peterson took the mound in the ninth inning to roars from the 40,681 in attendance. There was a “Pe-ter-son” chant, and when he got the final out, a groundout to third, he was showered with adulation . . . and also water — the rare starting pitcher who gets treated to a celebratory cooler bath.
Afterward, he and Mendoza embraced. He threw 106 pitches and needed only nine in that ninth inning: a lineout, a strikeout and the groundout.
He was quick to note that he didn’t do it alone. Brandon Nimmo hit two solo homers, Juan Soto hit a two-run shot, and Tyrone Taylor made the defensive play of the game.
Luis Garcia Jr. doubled with one out in the eighth and the next batter, Jacob Young, hit a sharp single to center. Taylor, a defensive replacement, bore in on the ball and threw a laser to home; Luis Torrens applied the tag, gunning down Garcia — a play that was upheld on review.
“It’s a big, big reason why Peterson was able to finish,” Mendoza said.
The Mets opened the scoring in the first inning when Alonso, just minutes after being feted for earning National League player of the week, hit an RBI double to drive Nimmo in from first for the first baseman’s MLB-leading 63rd RBI.
The Mets scored two more in the third courtesy of a heating- up Soto. Francisco Lindor doubled with one out and, two batters later, Soto creamed Jake Irvin’s hanging curveball 408 feet to right-center at nearly 108 mph off the bat to put the Mets up 3-0; it was his second homer in as many days. Soto has reached base in 13 straight games and is 16-for-45 with five homers, 10 RBIs, 15 runs and 14 walks in that span.
Nimmo added his first homer in the fifth, an opposite-field shot off Irvin’s changeup that kept carrying and snuck over the wall in left-center. He hit his second in the seventh, smacking Jackson Rutledge’s inside cutter to right for his 12th homer, giving the Mets a 5-0 lead.
It was plenty for Peterson, who’s building off a strong 2024 where he returned from hip surgery, pitched to a 2.90 ERA and became a pivotal cog in the bullpen during the Mets’ improbable run to the NLCS. In that span, he earned Mendoza’s trust — enough that when Peterson said he wanted to go back out, there was no hesitation.
“As a manager, you want to give your players a chance every time you have an opportunity,” Mendoza said.
And while Peterson made no eye contact, his teammates were making a whole lot of it.
“I think the whole team was pulling for him,” Mendoza said. “They were staring at me through that whole eighth inning. They were wondering what the conversation was like with [pitching coach Jeremy Hefner]. I had like three players staring at me like, ‘Don’t do it.’ They all wanted it for him. It’s a pretty special day.”
Notes & quotes: Mark Vientos, who suffered a low-grade hamstring strain last week, took batting practice before Wednesday’s game, signaling his return to baseball activities . . . Frankie Montas (lat) will throw another rehab start with Triple-A Syracuse Friday, but Mendoza said it might not be his last. Montas has struggled in his four rehab outings, allowing 12 runs and six homers, with eight walks and nine strikeouts over 12 innings. Pitching coach Jeremy Hefner spoke to him about his mechanics but “this is kind of like spring training for him and hitters now are in mid-season form, [so] it’s hard to put too much” value in the rehab results, Mendoza said . . . Sean Manaea (oblique), who tossed 2 2⁄3 scoreless innings with Single-A Brooklyn Tuesday, will have a third rehab outing on Sunday. Mendoza said they’ve yet to discuss how to handle the rotation when Montas and Manaea return.
Laura Albanese is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. She's been covering MLB since 2014 after starting at Newsday as an intern seven years earlier.
