For a moment, everything seemed in peril — David Peterson’s fine start, the Mets’ potential victory, even their thinning hopes at a postseason berth. In the span of minutes on Saturday night at Citi Field, Miguel Castro made things tense, loading the bases on a hit and two walks in the seventh inning.
At the plate was Freddie Freeman, perhaps the favorite to win the National League MVP Award. Out of the bullpen came Justin Wilson, whose second pitch was the most important of all in the Mets’ 7-2 win over the Braves: a 94 mph fastball that Freeman grounded to second, where Robinson Canó started an inning-ending, 4-6-3 double play.
Inning over! #LGM pic.twitter.com/wXt3DHgYJs
— New York Mets (@Mets) September 20, 2020
The Braves kept threatening, but couldn’t complete their comeback attempt after the Mets took an early lead on Canó’s two-run single in the first. Peterson took over from there, striking out a career-high 10 and generating a career-best 22 swinging strikes — more than half of them on his slider. All told, Peterson pitched six innings of one-run ball, before turning things over to Castro.
.@RobinsonCano brings home ✌️. #LGM pic.twitter.com/CG7XgT8Wha
— New York Mets (@Mets) September 19, 2020
Career high 1️⃣0️⃣ strikeouts for @_David_Peterson. ? pic.twitter.com/Qwfe3LGmW4
— New York Mets (@Mets) September 20, 2020
The Mets then added to their lead in the eighth, when Dominic Smith and Canó hit back-to-back homers off Shane Greene, and Brandon Nimmo added a two-run single.
Back-to-back jacks! ? #LGM@TheRealSmith2_ | @RobinsonCano pic.twitter.com/4cFRKheqq5
— New York Mets (@Mets) September 20, 2020
Kyle leads sports coverage and hosts the Concrete Jungle podcast. Have a lead or question? Send it to [email protected].