David Peterson received a vote of confidence from David Stearns last week amid his sluggish start to the regular season. 

Taking the ball on Monday night, though, the Mets' lefty was roughed up again. 

Peterson did well to limit the damage against, but found himself facing traffic from the very start against the high-power two-time defending champion Dodgers. 

He hit Shohei Ohtani opening the bottom of the first, then allowed the next three batters to reach on two walks and an RBI single, before pitching coach Justin Willard came out to talk. 

Whatever the message, it certainly worked, as Peterson struck out the next three batters to dance his way out of danger with just one run on the board. 

He picked up two more punchouts, one on Ohtani, in a perfect second. 

“Your back is against the wall,” he said. “Bases loaded in the first inning, you’re just trying to execute one pitch at a time -- was able to slow myself down, get in a better rhythm with my mechanics and go forward from there.”

The Dodgers would make Peterson pay for two walks in the third, though, as Andy Pages lifted a three-run homer to deep left to make it a 4-0 ballgame. 

He then worked around a ground-rule double in the fourth, and finished his day gutting his way through a second and third with one out jam in the bottom of the fifth. 

Peterson’s ERA is up to 6.61 after allowing four runs on four walks and five hits with seven strikeouts in the loss. 

While the results still aren’t where the Mets need them to be, they were encouraged by how his stuff looked.  

“Stuff-wise, it was probably the best we’ve seen,” Carlos Mendoza said. 

“I felt a lot better,” Peterson added. “I felt like I was able to get my sinker down, changeup I was missing down, slider was consistently at the bottom. Left the one curveball up, but I felt a lot better about my stuff.

“Would obviously not like to give up the three-run homer and some of the free passes, but overall it was a step in the right direction -- now we learn from it, clean things up we need to clean up, and move on to the next one.”

As it’s becoming increasingly apparent that Aaron Judge and Mike Trout may never meet in October, this April battle might have to do.

The two American League MVPs went back and forth in the Yankees’ 11-10 win over the Angels on Monday in The Bronx, each homering twice, with Judge getting the last laugh.

“That part certainly delivered,” manager Aaron Boone said of the head-to-head between the two sluggers.

Judge got it started with a two-run shot off lefty Yusei Kikuchi in the bottom of the first, a 456-foot shot into the bleachers in left-center.

Trout answered with a game-tying three-run shot in the sixth off Jake Bird, while Judge came back with a go-ahead solo shot in the bottom of the inning.

Trout, not to be outdone, homered again in the eighth, this time off Camilo Doval to tie the game again before the Yankees won it on a wild pitch by Jordan Romano with Ryan McMahon on the plate — and Judge on deck.

“He’s the greatest of all time,” Judge said of Trout. “Coming up at such a young age, he’s special. He’s had to battle injuries, but he’s in a better spot now.”

For Trout, it was a somewhat rare moment in the spotlight, as he typically toils in anonymity for the also-ran Angels.

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“It was definitely one of the better games,” Trout said. “It was fun to be a part of, [but] the loss is disappointing. … To throw blows like that, both teams, pretty cool.”

As usual, Judge came out on top — and made more history in the process, as the Yankees snapped a five-game losing streak.

It was his sixth homer of the young season, but it also put Judge in the franchise record books again.

The multihomer game was Judge’s 47th of his career, passing Mickey Mantle and leaving him behind only Babe Ruth, who had 68 with the Yankees, as well as the most in MLB history with 72.

“That’s special,’’ Judge said of passing Mantle. “I’m glad it came in a win. Hopefully, we can keep going.”

He’s had more multihomer games than any player with his amount of time in the majors — 1,161 games. Ralph Kiner is next with 39.

And of his six homers on the season, four have given the Yankees the lead.

The night was another encouraging game for Judge, who homered in his last at-bat against the Rays in Sunday’s loss.

On Monday, the Yankees needed every bit of offense they could get.

Boone called Judge’s game “huge.”

The manager added, “Hopefully, we start to see him lock in here as we get rolling. I don’t have to tell you what he means to the offense.”

Certainly not this year, as the Yankees seemingly can’t afford any drop-off from Judge with worries in the bullpen and all over the infield, where Jazz Chisholm Jr., McMahon and José Caballero have all disappointed in multiple facets of the game.

And the pen nearly robbed the Yankees of a much-needed win, with Bird optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after the game.

The Mets fell to the Dodgers 4-0 as a lineup that seems more hapless by the day was held scoreless for a second straight day and for the third time in four games.

After the Mets set the appropriate tone by going down 1-2-3 in the top of the first, it appeared as if this game was going to be effectively over rather quickly as David Peterson—coming off two straight rough outings—got into trouble immediately in the bottom of the first. After getting ahead of Shohei Ohtani—a hitter Peterson has historically dominated in his career, interestingly enough—0-2, Peterson hit him square in the back with a pitch. Peterson then walked Kyle Tucker and allowed an RBI single to Will Smith to put the Dodgers on the board early. He then issued yet another walk to Teoscar Hernández to load the bases still with no one out and just as the Dodgers seemed poised for a crooked number that would send many Mets fans on the East Coast off to bed, Peterson struck out the next three batters in a row to somehow limit the damage to just a single run.

But these days a single run is all the opposition needs and today turned out to be no different. The Mets hit into a couple of hard outs in the early innings against Justin Wrobleski but the bats were otherwise completely inept again. Even the characteristic working deep counts was absent tonight; the Mets went down quickly and easily, frame after frame.

Peterson bounced back to pitch a 1-2-3 second inning, but the Dodgers more or less put the game away in the bottom of the third. Peterson walked Tucker again to lead off the inning and after retiring the next batter he faced, Peterson induced a potential double play grounder off the bat of Freddie Freeman on which Francisco Lindor made a nifty flip to Marcus Semien at second base, but Semien could not get the ball out of his glove to turn two, so a potentially inning-ending play turned into first and third and two outs. Of course, the Dodgers capitalized, as good teams do. The very next batter Andy Pages took Peterson deep for a three-run homer to give the Dodgers a 4-0 lead, which feels awfully insurmountable for the Mets right now. Peterson did ultimately last five innings and struck out seven batters (including Max Muncy thrice), but walked four and was charged with four runs, falling to 0-3 on the season.

Meanwhile, Wrobleski was perfect through 4 1/3 innings before Jorge Polanco laced a one-out single in the fifth for the Mets’ first hit (and first base runner). But Francisco Alvarez promptly grounded into a double play, ensuring that Wrobleski still faced the minimum through five innings. In fact, Wrobleski—who hadn’t gone more than five innings in any of his previous starts—pitched eight scoreless innings. He only struck out two batters, but he allowed just two hits, as the Mets seemed eager to ground out as efficiently as possible.

What else is there even to say about this embarrassing stinker of a game in Los Angeles? The bullpen pitched well. Craig Kimbrel contributed a scoreless sixth inning and Joey Gerber threw two scoreless innings in his Mets debut, leg kicking his way to an impressive five strikeouts along the way. Tommy Pham also made his 2026 Mets debut tonight, but his was less successful than Gerber’s. Like pretty much everyone else in the lineup, Pham took an 0-fer.

You know what they say, though. Every day you have a chance to see something in a baseball game you’ve never seen before and that did happen tonight. During the bottom of the sixth, Francisco Alvarez called time for a mound visit and was granted it by the home plate umpire, but Craig Kimbrel—apparently in his own world—did not realize time had been granted and almost threw a pitch with Alvarez already halfway out to the mound, resulting in an amusing mid-trot squat by Alvarez and a hastily aborted delivery by Kimbrel to narrowly avoid something weird and potentially dangerous transpiring.

But that was just about the only interesting thing that happened in an otherwise uneventful loss that marked the Mets’ sixth defeat in a row, dropping them to 7-10 on the season. The Mets have better pitchers going the next two days, but the Dodgers do too, so we shall see if the offense is able to find some sort of spark and salvage the series.

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Win Probability Added

What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Craig Kimbrel and Joey Gerber, +1% WPA
Big Mets loser: David Peterson, -20% WPA
Mets pitchers: -18% WPA
Mets hitters: -32% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Jorge Polanco’s single in the fifth, +1.9% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Andy Pages’ three-run homer in the third inning, -21.3% WPA

Jake Bird’s tumultuous time with the Yankees hit another bump Monday night, as the right-hander gave up a three-run homer to Mike Trout and was then optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre following an 11-10 win over the Angels in The Bronx.

Bird, who struggled after being acquired from Colorado prior to last year’s trade deadline, got off to a promising start this season, with four straight scoreless appearances.

But he gave up three runs in a loss to Miami on April 5 and then allowed the first homer by a Yankees reliever this season when Trout took him deep to tie the game in the sixth.

Boone said the Yankees were “a little short” in the bullpen Monday, as they planned on staying away from Brent Headrick and Ryan Yarbrough.

“It was a tough night for him, but I thought he made a lot of really good pitches,” Boone said. “A couple of mistakes they really put charges into to get back in the game. He had a hard time finishing off a couple of at-bats.”

Camilo Doval also allowed a homer to Trout, as the Yankees look to get him to be a consistent setup man for David Bednar.

Anthony Volpe was cleared to begin a rehab assignment Tuesday.

Boone said Volpe likely would play four games this week for Double-A Somerset. In his first couple of games, Volpe would play just three to five innings as the Yankees build him up “kind of like spring training,” Boone said.

After the week, the Yankees would reassess Volpe, who is recovering from offseason shoulder surgery.

Cade Winquest, the Rule 5 draft pick who did not appear in a game before he was designated for assignment, was officially returned to the Cardinals. … Facing a lefty in Yusei Kikuchi, Boone opted to start Paul Goldschmidt at first and sit Ben Rice, who is trying to prove he can hit southpaws but began this year with a .522 OPS against lefties and 1.431 against righties.

Boone also stuck with Randal Grichuk in left field. A lefty killer in recent years, Grichuk began this season 0-for-12 with six strikeouts.

“Erratic playing time,” Boone said. “What’s he got nine at-bats, 10 at-bats? He’s swung through some pitches. He’s also smoked a ball up the middle that they made a great play on. He’s hit a ball to the wall in center.

“He’s a good hitter.”

LOS ANGELES — From feeble to just plain awful, a downward spiral continued for the Mets lineup Monday night.

Somehow, they avoided getting no-hit, but it wasn’t easy. Dodgers left-hander Justin Wrobleski had that kind of mastery over this sputtering bunch.

The Mets collected three measly singles and called it a night in their 4-0 loss before a sellout crowd of 52,838 at Dodger Stadium, extending their losing streak to six games. Shut out for a second straight game, the Mets have played 20 straight innings without scoring.

Wrobleski allowed only singles to Jorge Polanco and Francisco Alvarez over eight innings before Marcus Semien singled against Tanner Scott in the ninth. The Mets didn’t even place a runner in scoring position.

“These types of stretches are going to happen,” Semien said. “It’s tough when it happens early in the season. It’s tough when we’re not winning ballgames and the microscope is going to be right there on the offense.”

Only adding to the Mets’ angst: ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, last year’s World Series hero, is the Dodgers’ scheduled starting pitcher on Tuesday.

This latest no-show by the lineup followed a homestand that finished with five straight losses, a stretch in which the Mets averaged 1.8 runs against the Diamondbacks and Athletics.

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Among the distressing numbers entering play was the team’s .658 OPS, which ranked 23rd in MLB. The Mets were 23rd with a .305 on-base percentage and their .353 slugging percentage ranked No. 24.

Simply, that is not good enough for a lineup that was overhauled by president of baseball operations David Stearns this winter with an eye toward becoming more athletic and less dependent on home runs.

Juan Soto’s absence from the lineup has been felt, as he sits on the injured list with a strained right calf. It appeared this might not be the case a week ago: The Mets were returning from a successful weekend in San Francisco that included three straight victories (with excellent offensive production) with Soto sidelined.

“We’re trying to control the strike zone and swings at the right ones, but that is only half the battle,” Semien said. “Quality of contact is something we are all striving for, [too].”

In a third straight lackluster start, David Peterson allowed four earned runs on five hits and four walks with seven strikeouts over five innings. The left-hander has pitched to a 6.41 ERA in his four starts this season and has pitched into the sixth inning only once.

“This is probably the best we have seen him,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “He got some swings and misses, but the walks … I thought the [velocity] was better. But even when he got ahead there were three-ball counts and then he got behind, but the stuff itself was better.”

Peterson nearly buried himself in the first inning when he allowed an RBI single to Will Smith and walked Teoscar Hernández to load the bases with nobody out. But following a visit from pitching coach Justin Willard, the left-hander struck out Freddie Freeman, Andy Pages and Max Muncy in succession. Peterson’s trouble began when he drilled Shohei Ohtani and walked Kyle Tucker.

After a perfect second inning, Peterson returned to trouble in the third and this time didn’t escape: Pages launched a three-run homer that gave the Dodgers a 4-0 lead. Tucker and Hernández each walked in the inning before Peterson hung a 2-0 curveball in the middle of the plate that Pages blasted over the left-field fence.

“I left the one curveball up, but I felt a lot better about my stuff,” Peterson said. “Obviously I would have liked to not give up the three-run homer and some of the free passes, but overall a step in the right direction.”

Polanco bounced a single through the first-base hole with one out in the fifth to give the Mets their first base runner against Wrobleski. But that breakthrough was negated when the ensuing batter, Alvarez, grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Peterson escaped fifth-inning trouble by striking out Muncy after Hernández doubled in the inning and Freeman singled him to third.

Craig Kimbrel allowed a single to Miguel Rojas in the sixth, but Rojas was thrown out by Alvarez attempting to steal second. Kimbrel finished with a scoreless inning.

Joey Gerber, in his Mets debut, escaped trouble in the seventh by striking out Pages after walking Smith and surrendering a two-out double to Freeman.

Polanco bounced a single through the first-base hole with one out in the fifth to give the Mets their first base runner against Wrobleski. But that breakthrough was negated when the ensuing batter, Alvarez, grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Peterson escaped fifth-inning trouble by striking out Muncy after Hernández doubled in the inning and Freeman singled him to third.

Craig Kimbrel allowed a single to Miguel Rojas in the sixth, but Rojas was thrown out by Alvarez attempting to steal second. Kimbrel finished with a scoreless inning.

Joey Gerber, in his Mets debut, escaped trouble in the seventh by striking out Pages after walking Smith and surrendering a two-out double to Freeman.

As two starting pitchers delivered starts on the opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to efficiency, Justin Wrobleski and the Dodgers got the better of David Peterson and the Mets in a 4-0 win. On one side, Wrobleski delivered the standout performance of his career, generating quick outs at a staggering rate; on the other, Peterson had to labor immensely to complete every inning.

While it’d be harsh to put a label on Justin Wrobleski quite so early in his career, the stark difference in his numbers as a starting pitcher and reliever is quite evident. Still, for one game here, he silenced any doubts about his capabilities as a full-time starter. Facing a New York Mets lineup missing Juan Soto and coming off a shutout loss in their last performance, the Dodger starter was phenomenal in tossing eight innings of scoreless baseball.

The key to this magnificent outing from Wrobleski wasn’t particularly tricky—the left-hander simply peppered the zone with four-seam fastballs, far more often than what is the norm for him, both in the number of pitches and the frequency of those inside the zone. Wrobleski’s heater isn’t imposing enough that it should generate this kind of result; in fact, Met hitters only whiffed once on 29 swings on the pitch—they just did absolutely nothing when they put the ball in play, and a lot of pitches in the zone normally induce quick at-bats, hence such a deep outing. Wrobleski’s pitch count was so low for the vast majority of this game that there was even a chance he’d go the distance. Unfortunately, a base runner in the eighth put a wrinkle in those plans, and the lefty settled for eight scoreless on 90 pitches. Dave Roberts turned to Tanner Scott in the ninth in a non-save situation, and he shut the door on the Mets.

Wrobleski was also supported by a Dodger offense that gave him the lead right at the start of the game, adding to it early on. After allowing all four of the first Dodger hitters to reach base safely to open the game, David Peterson set the stage for what looked like could be a blowup outing. With one run across after a Will Smith single, and the bases loaded, Peterson defied the odds and got out of the inning by striking out the side. Peterson didn’t exactly settle in after that opening frame, and an Andy Pages three-run shot in the third really put a dent in his final line.

The Mets starter kept managing to put out his own fires—Peterson left the game after five, having allowed only those four runs in an outing in which 11 Dodgers reached safely. Reverting back to his normal struggles against left-handed pitching, Muncy was one of the primary hitters responsible for the Dodgers not punishing Peterson further, striking out all three times, and stranding a total of five runners.

It wasn’t just Peterson, though, as all three of the Mets relievers who entered the game allowed at least one base runner—the Dodger offense couldn’t tack on to those four runs, which turned out to be more than enough to win the game comfortably.

Monday particulars

Home runs: Andy Pages (5)

WP — Justin Wrobleski (2-0): 8 IP, 2 hits, 2 strikeouts

LP — David Peterson (0-3): 5 IP, 5 hits, 4 runs, 4 walks, 7 strikeouts

Up next

Same start time on Tuesday, with the Dodgers getting their first look at one of the prized jewels of this Mets’ staff, the youngster Nolan McLean, who burst onto the scene last season. For the reigning back-to-back champs, it’ll be Yoshinobu Yamamoto looking to carry on his outstanding early-season form.