Freddy Peralta just had the worst start of his career. Ten runs. Ten hits. Two and two-thirds innings. The New York Mets got flattened 15-3 by the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday night, and Peralta was the primary reason the game was over by the second inning.
But Mets manager Carlos Mendoza isn’t hitting the panic button. Not yet anyway.
“If somebody’s able to bounce back after bad outings, it’s a guy like Freddy,” Mendoza said after the loss. “He’s a competitor, he’s a guy who’s gonna come back the next day and look for ways to get better.”
That’s the public line. Behind the scenes, the Mets have to be at least somewhat concerned. Peralta is in his first season with New York after eight years in Milwaukee, and this was supposed to be a steady veteran addition to a rotation that needed stability. Instead, Saturday looked like a guy still trying to find his footing in a new city, facing a Phillies lineup that clearly had his number from the first pitch.
What happened against the Phillies
Philadelphia jumped all over Peralta early. The Phillies put up 11 runs through three innings, turning the game into a glorified batting practice session. The Mets offense scratched across a couple runs in the fourth but never seriously threatened to make it competitive.
The loss dropped New York to 34-42 on the season. That’s last place in the NL East, behind both the Marlins and the Nationals. Not exactly where the Mets hoped to be at this point in the summer.
Mendoza is right to give Peralta some leash. Veteran pitchers have bad nights. But the leash isn’t endless. The Mets need wins, and they need their $15 million arm to look like someone who can get outs against playoff-caliber lineups. Philadelphia is exactly that kind of team.
What comes next
The Mets wrap up this series against the Phillies on Sunday. First pitch is at 7:20 p.m. ET. After that, Peralta will get a few days to reset before his next start. Mendoza will be watching closely. So will the front office.
One bad outing doesn’t define a season. But for a Mets team already buried in the standings, every start carries a little extra weight. Peralta has been around long enough to know that. He has 82 career wins and a track record of bouncing back. The question is whether he can do it in Queens, where the spotlight doesn’t dim and the margin for error is thin.
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