Pitching in Colorado is already tough.
It’s even tougher when you have to do it on a cold, windy night.
Mets right-hander Freddy Peralta knew exactly what he’d be facing going in, though, and he tired to stay as prepared and loose as possible throughout Wednesday’s outing.
“It was crazy weather,” he said postgame. “I knew what I was facing, though. I knew it was going to be a little crazy so between innings I was riding a bike to keep myself warm and ready to go.”
That resulted in Peralta gutting his way through five scoreless innings of work.
The Rockies did do a good job of making him battle, as he threw a total of 91 pitches on the night, but he held their offense in check and left with a big-advantage still in place.
Peralta only struck out one, but limited Colorado to four hits and a pair of walks.
“I think it was good,” he said. “I was hoping to get into the sixth inning, but it was crazy — my pitch count was a little high, but other than that I thought it was pretty good.”
“He found a way,” Carlos Mendoza added. “On a day where they put fouled off tough pitches and put together good at-bats, he gave us five and kept us in the game — he attacked even when he got behind, so it was a good outing.”
Peralta pitched well enough to earn his second Mets win, and his first since Opening Day against the Pirates.
“It feels really good,” he said. “It’s funny because [Luis] Torrens was just asking me like ‘how long have you been pitching without a win?’ And I told him it was Opening Day and he was surprised — me too.”
New York has suddenly found their footing a bit following their brutal stretch of play, going home victorious in three straight games and locking up back-to-back series to open the road trip.
“This is what I expected,” Peralta said. “This is who we are, we have to keep it that way.”
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