NEW YORK — The Mets might be down a pivotal player or four thanks to injuries and illness, but you certainly wouldn’t be able to tell on Sunday.
Behind David Peterson, pitching for an injured Taijuan Walker, the Mets put together some timely hits, made good on some pivotal errors, benefited from Pete Alonso’s third homer of the season, and took the rubber game from the Diamondbacks, 5-0, at Citi Field. They’ve won seven of the first 10 games of the season, despite starting it without Jacob deGrom, losing Walker to right shoulder bursitis, and playing without Mark Canha and Brandon Nimmo, who are on the COVID-19 list.
Peterson gave the Mets everything they could have wanted: Going 4 1/3 innings, allowing three hits — one a tough-luck double — and no earned runs with two walks and four strikeouts. What’s more, some of the things that plagued him during last season’s sophomore slump — fastball location and difficulty setting up his slider — looked better resolved against an admittedly anemic Diamondbacks lineup. With his performance, the Jacob deGrom-less rotation has an ERA of 1.07.
Peterson got into some trouble in the fourth, though through little fault of his own. Carson Kelly skied a fly ball to right, but Starling Marte lost it in the sun for what was scored a double. Pavin Smith’s one-out infield single put runners on first and second, but Peterson was able to strike out Daulton Varsho swinging on a knee-buckling 2-and-2 slider and got Yonny Hernandez to ground into a forceout at third to end the inning.
Meanwhile, Marte’s rough day continued in the sixth, when he lost yet another fly ball for a leadoff double. Chasen Shreve, though, got the next two outs — a groundout moving the runner over and a strikeout — before Hernandez hit a slow roller behind second that looked like it would go for an infield hit. Luis Guillorme, though, made the quick pick and threw smoothly to Dom Smith at first to get the runner by two strides.
The Mets finally got on the board in the sixth when, with one out and Alonso on first, Eduardo Escobar hit a line drive to right. With Alonso barreling for third, though, Pavin Smith skied a throw that sailed far over Hernandez’s head to chase Alonso home and move Escobar to third.
The Diamondbacks then brought in former Met Oliver Perez for his 700th major-league appearance, though it ended up being a milestone to forget. He walked Dom Smith and allowed an RBI single to pinch hitter J.D. Davis to score Escobar. James McCann added a sacrifice fly to chase Smith home to give the Mets the 3-0 lead.
With a runner on and two outs in the seventh, Alonso teed off with a line-drive homer to left off reliever Matt Peacock for the 5-0 advantage. His third home run in three games as a DH gave him an NL-high 14 RBIs.
