Joey Lucchesi is keeping pressure on David Peterson for the fifth starters spot in the Mets rotation. After Peterson struggled in latest outing, Lucchesi pitched 3 hitless innings today.

Lucchesi has pitched 5 hitless innings, allowing just three walks, while striking out 7.

David Peterson on the other hand, has allowed three runs over 6 innings of work. In that span he has allowed 6 hits and 2 walks, with just 1 strikeout. In watching Peterson outings, I saw a ton of hard hit contact.

Lucchesi has a longer samplesize in the majors, as a solid fifth starter. Peterson had a great rookie year, but his expected ERA was at 4.33.

To me the edge is still slightly for Peterson, but he definitely needs some good starts to get his spot. Lucchesi is definitely knocking on the door and the gap isn’t big between the two of them. Interesting last couple of weeks for the fifth starter battle.

And don’t forget that Yamamoto is also looking strong, although my guess would be that he is little more unlikely to get the 5th spot.

Photo by: Mets Twitter