NEW YORK -- Right-hander Freddy Peralta is the ace of the Mets’ pitching staff, and they needed him to stop the bleeding on Sunday afternoon with New York on a four-game losing streak.
The losing streak is now at 5.
Peralta gave the Mets a fighting chance in a 1-0 loss to the Athletics. He notched his first quality start of the season, pitching six innings.
The Athletics made him work hard. In the second inning, Max Muncy had a 10-pitch at-bat, then two batters later, Darell Hernaiz battled Peralta for eight pitches and drew a walk. Overall, Peralta threw 100 pitches.
“Not having my best stuff today, I was grinding to be better and trying to be the best for me and my team,” Peralta said. “[The A’s] weren’t swinging at the lower changeups, but we made the adjustment and we were better.”
Peralta’s only blemish came in the third inning, when Nick Kurtz swung at an 0-2 curveball and sent the ball over the right-field wall for his first home run of the season.
“It wasn’t a bad pitch, but I’ve seen him [before],” Peralta said. “He has a very good swing. He is a power hitter. He is a tall guy. He did what he needed to do with that pitch. I tip my hat to him.”
Unfortunately, the Mets left Peralta with his first loss of the season. The offense collected only four hits off three Athletics pitchers. Starter Aaron Civale allowed all four of those hits in his 5 2/3 innings.
The only time Civale was in trouble came in the sixth inning. The Mets had runners on first and second and one out, but Civale induced Jorge Polanco to hit into a force play. Civale left the game in favor of left-hander Hogan Harris, who was able to get pinch-hitter Mark Vientos to fly out to right fielder Lawrence Butler.
Even though the Mets are on a losing streak, Peralta has a positive vibe regarding his team.
“I know we are way better than this. We have a great team. We believe in each other and I know that we are going to do better,” Peralta said. “... I know there are a lot of people who want us to win. We want to win, too. Sometimes this is baseball. We have to get through this.”