So, typically, I am not a person who boils down a loss in a baseball game to one or two factors. Often, in my humble opinion, most of the roster is at fault in a loss — if your offense did not do much, it is likely because everyone pitched in. Or, I guess, did not pitch in. If your bullpen blows a game, it can be multiple guys putting their teammates in bad situations. However, this one feels strictly on the back of two people: starting pitcher David Peterson, and manager Carlos Mendoza.
David Peterson
did not have it today, and did not have it from the first pitch. Peterson gave up a lead off single to Fernando Tatis, walked Luis Arraez, and eventually surrendered a sacrifice fly to Gavin Sheets to give the Mets a 1-0 deficit in the first.
The Mets bats, to their credit, did not lay down as per the typical mantra of the 2025 Mets. Pete Alonso tied the game in the bottom of the first with a home run off of Nick Pivetta, who has been enjoying a truly excellent season in sunny San Diego.
Peterson immediately gave that back in the top of the second, allowing a Jackson Merrill single, and then allowing Jake Cronenworth to single him home a few batters later. Pivetta kept that 2-1 lead intact through the third inning, as he worked around a second inning Brett Baty double and a third inning Francisco Lindor single to keep the Mets off the board. Peterson gave the Mets two scoreless of his own, working around a single in the third and some hard hit outs in the fourth.
The Mets tied the game yet again in the bottom of the fourth, as Starling Marte hit an absolute nuke of a solo home run (109.7 mph, 418 ft!!!) to tie it at two.
And then, the fifth inning came. The dreaded fifth inning, which is akin to the Mets sleep paralysis demon this season, reared its ugly head again, and was where the game was lost.
Peterson hit Jake Cronenworth with a pitch to lead off the top of the fifth. Elias Díaz bunted him over to second. Tatis walked to make it first and second with one out. Luis Arraez caught the Mets off guard with a bunt single to load the bases for Manny Machado. Peterson was allowed to face the right handed Machado and that quickly proved to be a very poor choice, as the third baseman hit a grand slam to make it 6-2, and all but put this one to bed.
David Peterson flat out did not have it, missing virtually zero bats (his only strikeout on the day came against Old Friend Jose Iglesias), walking three, surrendering six hits and six runs. Mendoza also left him in far too long, with an especially egregious decision to leave him in deep into the fifth inning, and not having a righty ready to face Machado. While he had some bad luck that inning with the Arraez bunt — and I would have had him face him there — he hit a batter and walked one prior to that. Mendoza was far too late on his hook here for my taste.
Anyway, I digress.
The Mets bats did not want to hear about a game being put to bed, as they started to mount a (failed) comeback in the bottom of the fifth, as Juan Soto hit his 41st home run of the season to make it 6-3. Francisco Alvarez added a solo home run of his own in the seventh to make it 6-4.
Dom Hamel made his Major League debut in the sixth inning and set an MLB record, as he was the 46th pitcher used on the season (which, sheesh). He narrowly avoided giving up a run in the inning, as a Elias Díaz hit by pitch, a Tatis single, and a Arraez single looked to score a run with two outs, However, Arraez assumed the throw would go home to prevent the run and decided to try and take second, but Soto threw to second instead. Arraez was out before Díaz crossed the plate, keeping the Padres at six runs.
That would not stand too long, as Ramón Laureano hit a solo homer off of Ryne Stanek to make it 7-4 in the ninth. The Mets actually got the tying run up against closer Robert Suarez, as Soto came up to the plate with runners on first and second with two outs. However, Soto — who narrowly missed a game tying homer off of Mason Miller in the seventh — hit a 100 mph line out to the pitcher to put this one in the loss column.
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Big Mets winner: Brett Baty, +7.4% WPA
Big Mets loser: David Peterson, -42.4% WPA
Mets pitchers: -39.0% WPA
Mets hitters: -11.0% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Starling Marte’s solo home run, +14.5% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: SHOCKER: Manny Machado’s grand slam, -27.0% WPA
