NEW YORK — Mets left-hander David Peterson was pulled after 4 2/3 innings in Sunday’s game against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Initially, there was fear that he might have pulled something while throwing a pitch. After the Mets’ 2-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday, manager Carlos Mendoza revealed he was “fine physically.”
Peterson elaborated after the game.
“I got the ball back and my vision just went blurry,” Peterson explained after the game. “Vision then started to come back and my stomach turned over on me. I just felt worse with every breath I took and just felt like I got punched in the stomach and was going to throw up.”
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It took seven pitches for Peterson to eventually walk Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. After the seventh pitch, an 81.1 mph curveball, the 6-foot-6 left-hander gingerly walked to the back of the mound and bent over.
On his way to make a mound visit, pitching coach Jeremy Hefner noticed something was wrong and waved over the Mets trainers. After a brief consultation, including manager Carlos Mendoza, Peterson returned to the mound to deliver a practice pitch.
To the surprise of many, afterwards, it was everyone but Peterson who walked off the mound.
Peterson couldn’t throw anything near the plate against the next batter, who fouled off an 85.7 mph four-seamer, nearly 5 mph slower than Peterson’s next slowest four-seam fastball, before taking the next four pitches high and away for a walk.
Hefner returned to the mound, but decided to stick with his pitcher, again, to the surprise of everyone watching — was he buying time for a reliever to warm up?
“I took some breaths,” Peterson said. “It kinda went away, and I felt like I had Giménez on the left-on-left matchup.”
He didn’t.
Peterson hit Giménez with the next pitch.
That’s when Mendoza had finally seen enough, making the slow walk to the mound. He signaled for his Max Kranick, who entered the inning and forced the next batter to pop out to the catcher.
Peterson finished the game having allowed one run on three hits and five walks with three strikeouts over 4 2/3 innings. He has a 2.53 ERA (three earned runs in 10 2/3 innings) in two starts this season.
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Manny Gómez may be reached at [email protected].
