Peterson Faces Cavalli as Nationals - Mets Continue at Citi Field
The nationals - mets matchup at Citi Field on Wednesday night started with David Peterson on the mound for New York and Cade Cavalli for Washington. The Mets came in off an 8-0 win over the Nationals a night earlier, so the series had already tilted their way before the first pitch at 7:10 PM.
Peterson and Cavalli at Citi Field
Peterson took the ball with a 5.06 ERA, a 3.76 FIP, a 1.650 WHIP and a 79 ERA+. Since being bumped from the rotation, he had allowed one run on a solo home run over seven innings in two outings. He also had a strong track record against Washington last season, when he gave up one run over 17 innings in two starts and threw a complete game shutout.
Cavalli arrived with different numbers but similar pressure. He had worked 24 2/3 innings over six starts, posting a 4.01 ERA, a 2.80 FIP, a 1.662 WHIP and a 102 ERA+. His most recent start before Wednesday came against Atlanta, where he struck out 10 Braves over five innings and allowed two runs.
Mets Carry the 8-0 Lead-In
New York’s edge in the series came from Tuesday’s 8-0 win, a game decided by a seven-run fourth inning. Juan Soto and Bo Bichette both homered in that win, giving the Mets a head start in a National League East matchup they had already opened 1-0 against in 2026.
That earlier result gave Wednesday’s game a different shape from a standard series finale. The Mets had already handled Washington once, and Cavalli had a recent answer of his own in this matchup: he held New York scoreless over five innings in September 2025, before the Nationals won that game in extra innings.
Washington’s Lineup Notes
Washington also entered with one notable absence. Luis Robert Jr. was out of the lineup with lower back tightness and was scheduled to receive an MRI on Thursday. For a club trying to answer an 8-0 loss with a cleaner showing at Citi Field, that left Cavalli to work without one of the names usually available to the order.
The rest of the board around the game pointed to how quickly the series had moved from one lopsided night to another starting-pitching test. Peterson had the stronger recent history against the Nationals; Cavalli had the broader 2026 workload and a sharper underlying FIP. The first game had gone to the Mets by eight runs, and Wednesday’s task was to see whether Washington could force a different script in the same ballpark.
