Mets to start David Peterson in crucial Sunday game vs. Brewers

MILWAUKEE — The sinking Mets will turn to David Peterson to bail them out.

Manager Carlos Mendoza announced the club will go with the lefty — who has been strong all season but struggled in his most recent outing — over Luis Severino for the series finale at American Family Field on Sunday.

Three straight losses have begun to tank the Mets, who have dropped a game behind the Braves and are virtually tied with the Diamondbacks (over whom the Mets own the tiebreaker) for the third and final NL wild-card spot.

They could have asked Severino to come back on normal, four days rest for the start, but the righty was dented in Atlanta on Tuesday and — more importantly — “We’ve been riding him hard here,” Mendoza said. Severino has made 31 starts, easily his most since 2018.

The Brewers hit righties better than lefties, but Mendoza said the larger issue is an extra day for Severino, who would likely line up to pitch in a game in Atlanta on Monday — against the same Braves club that clubbed him for four runs in four innings this week.

So it will be Peterson with the ball in his hands as the Mets are one win and one Diamondbacks loss away from clinching a wild-card spot.

“Petey’s been throwing the ball well,” Mendoza said of Peterson, who owns a 3.08 ERA in 20 starts but let up five runs in 3 ²/₃ innings against the Phillies on Sept. 20.

The 29-year-old will look to snap a skid not just from his club but from his rotation, which has turned in three underwhelming outings in this three-game funk.

Jose Quintana was not the problem in Saturday’s 6-0 loss to the Brewers, but he failed to be part of the solution.

The southpaw was not bad but he was brief, lasting just 4 ¹/₃ innings in which he was touched for two runs on five hits and two walks. He struck out nine but needed 92 pitches to record 13 outs.

Of course, he could have been perfect and it would not have mattered Saturday, when the Mets offense could not figure out six Brewers pitchers.

Still, the strong Mets run over the second half has largely been on the back of its rotation, which has seemed to feel the weight of late.

Quintana was better, but not by enough.

“I thought he battled,” Mendoza said of Quintana, who was strong until the fourth.

After three excellent frames, Quintana struggled to escape a two-run, 35-pitch fourth.

A Willy Adames single, Hoskins walk and two-out free pass to Isaac Collins — a walk that both Mendoza and Quintana pointed to as particularly regrettable — got him into trouble.

Joey Ortiz then reached out his bat on a full-count curveball and sent it into left-center for a two-run single that proved too much for the Mets to overcome and snapped a streak of 25 ²/₃ scoreless innings from Quintana.

“That’s a tough loss for us,” said Quintana, who may have made his final start with the Mets and likely finishes his season with a 3.75 ERA. “Everybody in this room knows nothing’s going to be easy. We need to win a ballgame.”

That ballgame — at least the first of a possible three to conclude the season — will rest in Peterson’s hands.