Freddy Peralta pulled in fifth, loses to Red Sox

He struck out six. Peralta’s fastball velocity was again up some tonight, as he averaged 95.1 mph. It’s his third straight start at 95 mph or better after averaging 93.9 mph previously this season. Interestingly, he’s throwing his secondary pitches a little slower than usual during the same timeframe. If it’s a conscious change, it’s not really paying off yet. He’ll take a 4.68 ERA into his first-half finale against Boston.

Peralta’s disastrous season just keeps getting worse. He gave up his first run after just the first three batters of the game. He had two of those hitters down to their final strike, but couldn’t put them away. Then, his entire four-run third inning debacle came with two outs. The biggest blow of that inning came from Sean Keys, who hit his first career home run. Just before that, he had Ernie Clement down to his final strike and could’ve escaped this jam without any runs on the board. Instead, after missing with a curveball, he came back with a fastball in the zone that Clement laced for an RBI double. Between poor command and a lack of confidence in all of his breaking stuff, Peralta is a shell of himself right now. He’ll take a 4.81 ERA with 92 strikeouts and 38 walks across 95 1/3 innings into his next scheduled start that could come Monday against the Braves or Tuesday against the Royals depending on how the Mets structure their rotation with an off-day on Thursday.

Peralta, 30, allowed five hits and a walk while striking out five. The Mets once again struggled defensively, and errors by Ronny Mauricio and Carson Benge allowed all three runs to not count against Peralta’s ERA. While he did issue just the one walk, he wasn’t exactly a strike-throwing machine, as he landed just 54-of-98 pitches in the zone. He was Greg Maddux mixed with Pedro Martinez compared to his last start when he gave up 10 runs in 2 2/3 innings versus the Phillies, but this wasn’t Peralta at his absolute best; even when accounting for the lack of defensive support. He’s set to face the Blue Jays in Toronto next week.

McLean will have his scheduled start pushed back an extra day in the wake of Monday’s rainout at Citi Field. It also eliminates the possibility of a two-start week where he would’ve had to face the red-hot Phillies this weekend. It’ll be Sean Manaea taking the ball for the other contest during Wednesday’s twin bill before Freddy Peralta starts Thursday’s series finale.

Peralta gave up 10 hits, walked one and struck out two. He fell to 5-6 with the loss. Peralta uncharacteristically couldn’t get out of the third inning before allowing 10 runs. His ERA ballooned up to 4.83 due to the disastrous start. It was easily Peralta’s shortest start of the season. He had a 2.70 ERA last year, but that appears to be an outlier at this point given his 3.61 career-ERA and how he’s pitched for the Mets this year. Peralta is lined up to face the Cubs at home next week.

Peralta only struck out two while walking one. He got into trouble in the first inning, which affected his workload. He finished with 90 pitches, but the Mets didn’t want to push it after a shaky fifth. His strikeout rate has been down this year while his ERA sits at 3.90. It’s the third time in four years he’s been between 3.68 and 3.90. Last year’s 2.70 is looking like the outlier. Peralta’s next start lines up on the road in Philadelphia.

Peralta had most of the damage against him occur in the third, as he gave up a four-spot in that inning. The 30-year-old saw some pretty consistent traffic with six hits and two walks, and the five strikeouts weren’t enough to keep those runners at bay. It’s a disappointing outing after his impressive six innings of one-run baseball against the Mariners last week, and it sees Peralta’s ERA rise to 4.04 in the process. A chance to rebound comes Sunday versus Atlanta.

Peralta did well to wash away a lead-off home run from J.P. Crawford and made sure that would be the only Mariners’ run on the afternoon. Now, he still wasn’t super sharp. There was traffic on the bases in all but his sixth and final frame and he still let his pitch count get too high based on how little damage was being done against him. One huge positive to pull from this start, this was the best Peralta’s slider has looked all season. He’s been oddly reluctant to use it thus far, but leaned on it with a 48% usage rate against right-handed batters and it forced five swings-and-misses while rarely being squared up. Also, as his confidence grew in the pitch, he broke off a nasty front-door one to strike out Randy Arozarena looking as the penultimate batter he’d faced. This is very encouraging for Peralta who has a great 3.38 ERA to go along with an iffy 1.31 WHIP without being able to pitch deeply in many games so far. He’ll have a chance to build on this next week at home against the Cardinals.

Peralta punched out five batters on the night while issuing one base on balls. The Marlins scratched out single runs against him in the third and fourth innings, then added another pair while chasing Peralta in the fifth. The 29-year-old hurler got 12 whiffs on 94 pitches on the night — eight on his changeup — while posting a CSW of 24 percent. He now sports a 3.55 ERA, 1.30 WHIP and a 68/28 K/BB ratio over 66 innings through his first 12 starts with the Mets. He’ll do battle against the Mariners his next time out in Seattle on Wednesday.

Peralta tossed a clean first inning, then gave up two runs on a walk and two hits in the second. Liam Hicks then took Peralta deep for a solo homer in the third. Hicks got to him again with another solo blast in the fifth. Peralta settled in to give the Mets two more scoreless innings, ending his day after seven with nine strikeouts. The 29-year-old right-hander will take a 3.52 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, and a 63/27 K/BB ratio across 61 1/3 innings into a rematch against the Marlins in New York on Friday.