VIERA, Fla. — Mike Pelfrey’s right knee is still intact, so at least his spring debut was fruitful in one regard.
From a performance perspective, Pelfrey wasn’t sharp yesterday. He allowed seven hits and four runs over three innings, including a three-run homer to Eric Bruntlett in the Mets’ 14-6 exhibition victory over the Nationals.
It could have been much worse for Pelfrey and the Mets. Cristian Guzman hit a line drive off the outside of Pelfrey’s right knee in the second inning, but the right-hander escaped with a contusion and remained in the game.
Pelfrey finally looked good in the third inning, retiring all three batters he faced.
“Early on I was trying to spot up and hit some locations and I didn’t do a very good job of it,” said Pelfrey, who allowed an unearned run in the first before Bruntlett unloaded for three runs in the second against him. “I made one bad mistake, a sinker in to Bruntlett that he hit out.”
Pelfrey plans to incorporate a split-fingered fastball this season. He said he used the pitch eight or nine times yesterday and threw all but one of them for a strike.
But he is still waiting for the bite on his sinker to arrive.
“I made the comment the other day, ‘When is my ball going to start sinking?’ ” Pelfrey said. “For sinker guys it takes half of spring training, so hopefully it will continue to get better.”
Pelfrey seeks redemption after going 10-12 with a 5.03 ERA last year. He says he lost about 25 pounds during the offseason and expects a vastly improved 2010.
The Mets need it. Behind ace Johan Santana, the starting rotation is a huge question mark. Manager Jerry Manuel will need the triumvirate of Pelfrey, Oliver Perez and John Maine to produce in a big way. Pelfrey is the only member of the rotation who didn’t spend time on the disabled list last season.
Before Santana makes his highly anticipated spring debut on Tuesday, Manuel will get a look at Perez and Maine on successive days.
“Hopefully they get through it like we did today, for the most part,” Manuel said. “[Almost] every day we’ll get to see one of those guys perform and hopefully each time the guy gets better and better.”
Manuel liked the fact Pelfrey worked a 1-2-3 third inning after encountering trouble in the first two. An Ike Davis fielding error helped the Nationals take 1-0 lead in the first inning.
“The third inning was outstanding — he finally felt comfortable,” Manuel said. “It’s the first spring outing, but I was real impressed with that third inning. That’s the Mike Pelfrey we need to see.”
Pelfrey did not walk a batter and got Mike Morse to hit into an inning-ending double play in the first. Guzman reached on Davis’ error before Ryan Zimmerman hit a broken-bat grounder for an infield single. Adam Dunn’s single made it 1-0.
“My thoughts coming into the game, I was going to have some adrenaline and I wanted to keep that under control and I thought I did a good job of doing that,” Pelfrey said. “This is why I busted my butt in the offseason, working hard. It’s fun to get out there. I’d like to have better results, but there is always next time. Starting [in] April, you have a zero ERA.”