For much of Saturday's game, Freddy Peralta looked every bit the ace the New York Mets envisioned when they acquired him this offseason. Matched up against the Cubs' Jameson Taillon, Peralta was sharp, holding Chicago to a single run through five innings and giving his team a chance to snap a frustrating losing streak.

However, baseball has a way of turning on the finest of margins. With two outs in the sixth inning, Peralta's command momentarily deserted him. After a hard-fought seven-pitch walk to Ian Happ—who had homered off him earlier—Peralta found himself in another battle with Seiya Suzuki. Ahead in the count 2-2, Peralta fired two sliders just off the plate, but Suzuki held his discipline, earning another free pass.

Those two-out walks proved catastrophic. Mets manager Carlos Mendoza went to his bullpen, bringing in lefty Brooks Raley to face pinch-hitter Carson Kelly. Kelly pounced on the first pitch he saw, launching a three-run homer that flipped the script and gave the Cubs a lead they wouldn't relinquish in a 4-2 victory.

"He was pretty good, only two walks, and unfortunately, it was the two towards the end there," Mendoza said postgame, pinpointing the Suzuki at-bat as the one that truly hurt. "Ended up costing the game there."

The final line for Peralta—three runs allowed over 5.2 innings—belied how well he pitched for the majority of his outing. Yet, it marked the third time in five starts this season he's surrendered at least three runs, a reminder of how quickly a game can slip away. For an ace tasked with being a stopper, it was a tough lesson in the high-stakes consequences of late-inning walks.