The New York Mets were shutout by the Atlanta Braves on Sunday by a score of 4-0.
It was an odd day to say the least as general manager Brodie Van Wagenen and the Mets announced the unsettling news that Yoenis Céspedes did not show up to the ballpark and they were unable to get in contact with him.
The team released an update in the fourth inning that they did not have reason to believe his safety was at risk.
After the game, Van Wagenen told the press that Cespedes decided to opt-out for the rest of the season due to Covid-19 reasons.
Piggybacking off the Cespedes news, the other theme of the game was the lack of run support and anemic hitting with runners in scoring position going 1-for-15 as the Mets dropped their fifth straight.
Pitching
Coming off an impressive major league debut in his first career start on Tuesday night, David Peterson was solid going six innings and allowing three runs while striking out a career high eight batters.
In the bottom of the first, Peterson worked around a one-out single by getting Met killer Freddie Freeman to ground into an inning ending double play.
Peterson came out firing in his second inning of work striking out back-to-back batters and getting Johan Camargo to fly out to end a quick half.
In the bottom of the third, Peterson found himself in trouble allowing back-to-back hits to put runners on second-and-third with no outs. Adeiny Hechavarria grounded out to McNeil at third who went home to prevent the run, but Adam Duvall was able to retreat back to the base without an out being recorded. This loaded the bases with no outs for Acuna.
Peterson could not find the strike zone walking Acuna on four pitches to score the game’s first run. The left-hander recovered to strike out Swanson for the first out.
Freeman grounded into the shift to plate the game’s second run as no one was covering second due to the alignment. A groundout by Ozuna helped Peterson get out of the jam with only two runs allowed.
With one out in the fourth, the Braves extended their lead to 3-0 as Camargo blasted a solo home run to left field. This was the first homer Peterson has allowed in his major league career.
Kyle leads sports coverage and hosts the Concrete Jungle podcast. Have a lead or question? Send it to [email protected].