David Peterson recorded the final out of the eighth inning, lugged an arm that had thrown 97 pitches to the dugout and did not glance at his manager.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Carlos Mendoza huddled with his pitching coaches, Jeremy Hefner and Desi Druschel, and discussed how far they believed the lefty could be pushed. Mendoza glanced at Peterson, who \u201cdidn\u2019t want to give me a look,\u201d Mendoza said, as if an acknowledgment of the moment might ruin the moment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But this moment \u2014 on the precipice of what in 2025 surely feels like history, given its scarcity \u2014 demanded a conversation. Mendoza soon after met with Peterson in the tunnel that leads out of the dugout and had a short chat.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cLet me finish it,\u201d Peterson told him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
New York Mets pitcher David Peterson (23) celebrates his shutout with catcher Luis Torrens (13) on June 11, 2025. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST<\/p>\n
New York Mets pitcher David Peterson (23) celebrates his shutout. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST<\/p>\n
\u201cAll right,\u201d Mendoza said. \u201cIt\u2019s yours.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
David Peterson held the Nats in check for nine innings. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST<\/p>\n
David Peterson and the Mets celebrate their win on Wednesday night. JASON SZENES\/NY POST<\/p>\n
David Peterson throws a pitch during the Mets\u2019 5-0 win over the Nationals at Citi Field on June 11, 2025. JASON SZENES\/NY POST<\/p>\n
A complete-game shutout \u2014 the first of his career \u2014 was Peterson\u2019s on Wednesday, when he shut down the Nationals, tested his manager and saved his bullpen in a 5-0 victory at Citi Field.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s awesome. You dream of doing stuff like this,\u201d Peterson said after becoming the first Met to throw a complete game since Luis Severino on Aug. 17 of last year and the first Mets lefty to toss a complete-game shutout since Steven Matz on July 27, 2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yes: 2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThings that happen once every six years are pretty cool,\u201d said Brandon Nimmo, who led the offense with two home runs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A complete-game shutout in 2025 requires an efficient pitcher who is able to pitch to contact, with the type of stuff that can get himself out of trouble and the type of mentality that stares down that trouble.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Peterson, who has been one of the better pitchers in baseball since returning from hip surgery about a year ago, checked off all the boxes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Juan Soto flips his bat after hitting a two-run homer in the third inning of the Mets\u2019 win over the Nationals. Corey Sipkin for New York Post<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been fun to see him grow up in front of my eyes,\u201d Nimmo said after a fifth straight win for the Mets (44-24).\u00a0<\/p>\n
It requires a manager who is willing to listen to his players, even if the conversations and decisions are not quite obvious.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Juan Soto watches his two-run home run off Jake Irvin during the third inning of the Mets\u2019 win over the Nationals. JASON SZENES\/NY POST<\/p>\n
Of course Mendoza wants to protect Peterson, who shrunk his ERA to 2.49 and is a massive piece of a club that has World Series aspirations.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So with 97 pitches on the odometer, Mendoza told Peterson he could have the ninth \u2014 but also ensured Ryne Stanek was warmed up in the bullpen. He conferred with Luis Torrens and told the catcher that Peterson had \u201ceight or nine pitches\u201d to record the final three outs, or else Stanek would be summoned.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I went out there with a plan to get a quick ninth,\u201d Torrens said simply, and Peterson only needed nine pitches to get Amed Rosario to line out, James Wood to strike out and Andr\u00e9s Chaparro to ground out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Brandon Nimmo is congratulated by his teammates in the dugout after belting a solo home run in the fifth inning of the Mets\u2019 victory over the Nationals. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST<\/p>\n
Peterson pumped his fist, smiled a wide smile and gave Torrens a hug. Another hug was soon due to Mendoza.\u00a0<\/p>\n
No one quite tests Mendoza like Peterson, who is sure of himself, confident and a bulldog who does not like to be pulled.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t see this too often, especially with pitch counts and max efforts,\u201d Mendoza said after Peterson became the fourth pitcher in the majors this year to throw a shutout without allowing a walk. \u201cSeeing a performance like that nowadays, it\u2019s something that we don\u2019t take for granted. You just have to enjoy it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Peterson was excellent over those nine innings in which he let up six hits. He only struck out six, pitching to contact that was driven into the ground, but seemed to save the strikeouts for the moments they were required.\u00a0<\/p>\n
David Peterson reacts in the ninth inning. JASON SZENES\/NY POST<\/p>\n
He twice found himself in danger, the first time in a seventh in which he bailed himself out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rosario and Wood came up with back-to-back singles to begin the frame. As if a flip were switched \u2014 avoid contact, keep the runners right there \u2014 Peterson used nasty sliders to strike out Chaparro and Nathaniel Lowe before Alex Call grounded out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He needed some help in the eighth. After a Luis Garc\u00eda Jr. double, Jacob Young shot a single to a just-subbed-in Tyrone Taylor in center field, who came off the bench warm. Taylor fired a one-hopper to Torrens, who caught the ball a few feet in front of the plate and then leapt backward, applying a tag just before Garc\u00eda\u2019s hand touched the plate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something I couldn\u2019t have done without Luis and defense and obviously the offense putting up runs,\u201d Peterson said. \u201cIt\u2019s just a huge team effort. This is all theirs as well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David Peterson recorded the final out of the eighth inning, lugged an arm that had thrown 97 pitches…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97657,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2396],"tags":[5,226,759,134,101,4,1690,61,2548,4203,1867,185],"class_list":{"0":"post-97656","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-mets","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-brandon-nimmo","10":"tag-david-peterson","11":"tag-juan-soto","12":"tag-mets","13":"tag-mlb","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-mets","16":"tag-newyork","17":"tag-newyorkmets","18":"tag-ny-sports-minute","19":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114668914922321487","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97656\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}