Mets' bullpen saves the day again, completing sweep of Blue Jays after David Peterson forced to exit
Mets starting pitcher David Peterson (23) pitches against the Toronto Blue Jays during the second inning at Citi Field in Flushing, NY, on Sunday, April 6, 2025. Credit: Brad Penner
Sunday’s Citi Field crowd of 40,132 included many youngsters as the Mets held Kids Opening Day. The tykes learned an important lesson: Nothing beats a shutdown bullpen.
After David Peterson exited after 4 2⁄3 innings with a stomach ailment that temporarily left him with blurry vision, Mets relievers threw 4 1⁄3 shutout innings to notch a series-sweeping 2-1 victory over Toronto.
The Mets (6-3), who have won four in a row, have MLB’s best bullpen ERA at 1.29. The total staff ERA is 1.91, also tops in baseball.
Max Kranick picked up his first big-league win since 2021 with 1 1⁄3 perfect innings in relief of Peterson. Kranick was followed by Reed Garrett and A.J. Minter, who each threw a scoreless frame, and Edwin Diaz, who worked around a pair of hit batsmen in the ninth by getting Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to ground into a forceout for his second save.
“They’ve been awesome,” Peterson said. “Max was huge there, kind of getting me out of that jam and keeping us where we were. Everyone behind him did their job. The bullpen has been really solid for us and it’s been fun to watch.”
It’s unclear how much Peterson got to watch once he left the game. He was cruising with a 2-0 lead with two outs in the fifth when he walked Guerrero to put runners on first and second. After the final pitch to Guerrero, Peterson appeared to grimace — not the good, beloved Grimace from 2024 — and doubled over in pain behind the mound.
“Threw a pitch and got the ball back and my vision just went blurry,” Peterson said. “Vision then started to come back and my stomach turned over on me. Just felt worse with every breath I took. Felt like I got punched in the stomach and was going to throw up.”
Thankfully, he didn’t. And he didn’t immediately come out of the game, either.
After a mound visit from the trainer and manager Carlos Mendoza, Peterson threw one warm-up pitch and still appeared queasy. But he stayed in and walked Anthony Santander to load the bases.
With Andres Gimenez due, pitching coach Jeremy Hefner visited the mound. Peterson, saying he felt better and wanting to face the lefty — and one out away from qualifying for a victory — stayed in again. But he hit Gimenez with his first pitch to force in a run.
Mendoza called in Kranick with the bases loaded for the second time in four appearances. Kranick got Alejandro Kirk on a foul pop to catcher Hayden Senger to end the inning with the Mets still ahead by a run.
“Max,” Brandon Nimmo said, “came up really big. Huge situation there when Petey had to come out.”
Peterson allowed one run and three hits with five walks and three strikeouts. He threw 91 pitches, the last seven with some sort of gastric distress, but the post-outing doctor’s visit and a good meal had him “feeling better” after the game.
“The doctor looked at me and [said] nothing serious,” he said. “Hopefully it’s one-and-done and move on.”
Kranick threw a perfect sixth, too, to give him seven shutout innings on the season.
On offense, the Mets were reunited with Toronto starter Bowden Francis, who pitched in one of the Mets’ most memorable games during their 2024 run to the playoffs.
On Sept. 11 in Toronto, Francis took a no-hitter into the ninth. Francisco Lindor led off with a home run. Francis departed, and the Mets went on to score five more in the inning en route to a 6-2 victory.
On Sunday, the Mets took a 2-0 lead in the third, an inning that started with a walk to Senger. No. 1 catcher Luis Torrens did not start for the second straight game because of a right forearm contusion. Torrens entered Saturday night’s 3-2 Mets victory in the eighth inning and singled in his only at-bat.
One out after Senger’s walk, Juan Soto also walked. Pete Alonso grounded an RBI single to center and Nimmo, on the next pitch, lofted a sacrifice fly to left for a 2-0 lead.
The Mets, who were swept by Milwaukee in their first home series of 2024 and didn’t get a win until the sixth game in Mendoza’s rookie season at the helm, were the sweepers this time.
“Look, it’s always good to win games, win series,” Mendoza said. “[It’s] way too early. We’ve got to stay the course. We’ve got to stick to our process, take it one series at a time and go with it. Especially what we went through last year. But it’s a long year, man.”
Notes & quotes: Matt Allan, once the Mets’ top pitching prospect, made his first appearance since 2019 for Low-A St. Lucie on Sunday and struck out five in 2 2/3 scoreless innings with a fastball that averaged 95.9 mph and topped out at 96.9. Allan, 23, allowed two hits and walked one. He is coming back from three elbow surgeries.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
