The next man to be the next man up for the New York Mets is David Peterson.
The third-year left-hander is slated to start in place of three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer on Monday night, when the Mets continue a road trip by visiting the San Francisco Giants in the opener of a three-game series.
Peterson (1-0, 1.89 ERA) is scheduled to make his first start for the Mets in almost three weeks when he opposes right-hander Alex Cobb (3-1, 5.61).
The Mets earned a series win Sunday when Taijuan Walker and a trio of relievers combined on a six-hitter in a 2-0 victory over the Colorado Rockies. The Giants absorbed the final loss in a three-game sweep by the visiting San Diego Padres by falling to their division rivals, 10-1.
Peterson, who is 2-1 with a 4.02 ERA in three starts for Triple-A Syracuse, will be recalled before Monday’s game to occupy the rotation spot held by Scherzer, who is out for six to eight weeks after suffering a left-oblique injury while pitching against the St. Louis Cardinals last Wednesday.
The absence of Scherzer means the Mets are without their top two starting pitchers. Jacob deGrom, a two-time Cy Young Award winner, has yet to pitch this season due to a shoulder injury.
But the Mets have adopted a football-esque philosophy to dealing with the injuries to Scherzer and deGrom as well as to catcher James McCann (fractured left wrist) and relievers Trevor May (triceps) and Sean Reid-Foley (Tommy John surgery). Starter Tylor Megill (biceps), who took deGrom’s spot in the season-opening rotation and started a combined no-hitter on April 29, also is out.
“I think we have a lot of guys in this room that have been in that spot and been counted on when somebody else has gone down,” Peterson told the New York Daily News.
Being swept for the first time this season in a three-game series and then receiving some more dispiriting injury news of their own left the Giants feeling a bit down Sunday. San Francisco has lost four straight and is 2-6 since May 14, a span in which it has suffered a pair of nine-run losses.
The Giants placed LaMonte Wade Jr. (left knee) and Brandon Belt (right knee) on the injured list over the weekend. San Francisco also put catcher Curt Casali on the seven-day concussion IL Saturday.
Belt, the Giants’ captain, said he had his knee drained twice in three days.
“It’s been tough to get in a rhythm,” he told reporters Sunday afternoon. “That’s why I want to get this taken care of.”
Peterson earned the win in his most recent appearance for the Mets on May 3, when he allowed four runs (three earned) over five innings as New York beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-4.
Cobb earned the win last Tuesday, giving up seven runs over 5 1/3 innings as the Giants outlasted the Colorado Rockies 10-7.
Peterson has never opposed the Giants. Cobb is 1-1 with a 4.76 ERA in three starts against the Mets.
–Field Level Media
