Mets’ Kevin Pillar on David Peterson: ‘We believe in him’

Left-hander David Peterson threw six scoreless innings in the Mets’ 5-2 victory over the Chicago Cubs Monday night.

One more rough outing Monday night against the Cubs could’ve potentially sent David Peterson down to Triple-A Syracuse. The Mets lefty had conjured up a 6.32 ERA and 1-5 record through his first 11 starts of the year, culminating with a 2.2-inning start against Baltimore on June 8 in which he allowed eight hits and four earned runs.

But the southpaw came to pitch.

In the midst of New York’s win at Citi Field, Peterson allowed one hit and zero earned runs while striking out three batters and walking two through six innings. He was a major component of the Mets’ third win in four games, and despite the struggles prior to Monday, it’s clear Peterson’s ballclub possesses faith.

"We believe in him. He knows that we believe in him."

Mets outfielder Kevin Pillar with some encouraging words for David Peterson following his strong bounce-back start: pic.twitter.com/z9PlFJrpRQ

— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) June 15, 2021

“The numbers on the surface don’t look very good but he’s given us some really good starts,” outfielder Kevin Pillar said following the win. “I know he’s coming off a rough last two starts but I think it comes down to the culture and the environment we’ve created here — we believe in him, he knows that we believe in him, [manager] Luis [Rojas] believes in him, our pitching coach [Jeremy Hefner] believes in him, this organization believes in him. I feel like if you reiterate that enough, it builds confidence in him.

“And I don’t think he’s ever wavered in the confidence department. I think it’s just a matter of him getting out there, executing his pitches like he did [Monday night], and showing how dominant he can be on every fifth day. Hopefully, this is something he builds off of and gets on a nice little run here and contributes to an already really good pitching staff we have.”

It was certainly Peterson’s most impressive start of the season thus far — it was the first in which he didn’t allow multiple hits or let up a single run.

His next start could come this Saturday afternoon when the Mets take on the Nationals in D.C.