Middle Innings Bite Peralta Again in Loss to Rockies

Freddy Peralta turned in a solid outing in the Mets’ loss to the Rockies on Friday.

But was it good enough?

Peralta limited Colorado to two runs in 5 2/3 innings, striking out eight. He lowered his ERA to 3.90 through his first six starts for New York. The Mets’ big offseason pitching addition has been mostly good.

But he hasn’t quite been able to hold things down for a full five or six innings.

Peralta gave up one in the fifth and one in the sixth on Friday. It wasn’t a lot, but it was enough for the Rockies to take the lead.

Peralta has now allowed nine runs over 8 1/3 innings between the fifth and sixth this season. He’s been dominant over the first four innings — a 1.88 ERA.

Of course, it’s natural for any pitcher to fade later in a start. But while Peralta has been good, he hasn’t quite been the ace the Mets were hoping for. It’s been one small wrinkle in the larger-scale disappointment of the 2026 Mets.

Peralta’s 3.90 ERA — the lowest it’s been this season — is still 1.20 higher than the mark he put up last year in 33 starts. It would be his highest in a season as a starter.

His previous start, against the Cubs, was sort of a similar deal. He was great through five innings, but he couldn’t make it through the sixth and ended up being charged with two extra runs after Brooks Raley gave up a three-run homer.

It’s worth realizing, though, that Peralta wasn’t billed as someone who would be going super deep into games. Even in last year’s campaign where he finished fifth in Cy Young voting, he only had a fairly average 5.35 innings per start. So far this year, it’s a nearly identical 5.39 per start.

“I think it’s just mentally, I have to allow myself to keep trusting in the process,” Peralta told reporters after the game. “Because I feel amazing. I feel really good. Everything’s been great, like the work that I’ve been putting in every day. It’s just, whenever I get to the mound and just finish it — that’s it. And I know, for sure, that a lot of those [longer outings] are going to come soon.”

Last year, Peralta could fairly reliably get through five innings. The fifth inning was actually one of his better innings, with a 1.78 ERA over 30 1/3 innings. He held batters to a .157 average in the fifth inning. He did struggle to a 5.27 ERA in 17 times going to the sixth inning.

Looking more broadly at Peralta’s numbers, most of his analytics are down from last year. Before Friday, his fastball velocity was down over a full mile per hour on average — although it was back up near his 2025 mark on Friday. His xERA and exit velocity numbers have lagged compared to last season. His strikeout rate has fallen to the lowest of his career — but, again, that’s something that was better on Friday, with eight strikeouts in 5 2/3.

Entering Friday, Peralta’s hard-hit rate was in the 38th percentile, compared to the 90th last season.

The short assessment is that Peralta seems to be stepping slowly in the right direction and just finding his footing in New York a little bit. His start to the season was underwhelming but not catastrophic.

The key going forward is that he needs to, ideally, provide the Mets with some more reliability in the fifth and six. He doesn’t have to go seven, eight innings — he’s not usually that type of pitcher — but they’re going to need five solid innings consistently from someone they’re billing as an ace.

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