Peterson struck out just two, but the Phillies couldn’t punish him aside from the third inning, when they had four of their 11 singles on the day. None of their hits off Peterson or the pen went for extra bases. Peterson remained 1-1 with a 3.29 ERA through five starts. He’ll pitch at home against the Diamondbacks next time out.

Peterson pitched much better than his line would indicate, and his line was still pretty good. The Cardinals benefited from some well placed bloops, ground balls, and wild pitch to scratch across their first two runs. Then, after the Mets rallied to tie this game up in the bottom of the fifth inning, Peterson came back out with 86 pitches as the top of the Cardinals lineup had turned over for the third time and coughed up the lead. Still, this was a fine start all things considered. Peterson drastically increased the usage of his four-seam fastball and the Cardinals seemed surprised by it with four swings-and-misses and 10 called strikes. His slider was nasty as well, especially against right-handed batters. This was also consecutive starts by Peterson without allowing a walk after he dished out eight free passes through his first two starts. He seems to be elevating his game and will be tested in a matchup against the Phillies next time out.

Peterson got off to a good start, facing the minimun before the Athletics brought two runs in to score in the fourth on four hits. He tossed two more scoreless frames, ending his day with a quality start while striking out five with no walks. The 29-year-old left-hander will take a 2.70 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, and a 17/8 K/BB ratio across 16 2/3 innings into a start against the Cardinals in New York on Thursday.

That’s certainly an encouraging update for the 29-year-old hurler. Peterson was ultimately removed in the fifth inning after a couple of visits at the mound, prompting speculation that he may have been dealing with an injury. Sounds like he should be good to go for next week’s battle against the Athletics.