Mike Pelfrey bounced back from his most worrisome start of the season with what was in many ways his most encouraging. He didn’t pitch shutout baseball and he didn’t dominate San Francisco, but he was resilient, he was efficient, and most of all he was healthy.
After seeing his major-league leading 27-inning scoreless streak snapped in Philadelphia — where he was bombed for six runs and sent back to New York for an MRI exam on his sore shoulder — Pelfrey was solid last night. His 7 1/3 innings were the longest stint by a Mets starter this season, helping them to a slump-busting 6-4 win and to get Pelfrey past any lingering doubts about his shoulder.
“There was a little [stiffness]. It’s a lot better than last time. Just so you guys don’t come around asking all week, I’m going to make my next start, so you don’t have to worry about that,” said Pelfrey, who gave up eight hits and three runs. “The warmup in the bullpen, I was a little off. That’s more because I took a couple days off from throwing, which is tough. But when I got in the game, everything fell into place. I was able to pound the zone and throw a lot of strikes.”
Pelfrey didn’t walk a batter and struck out four, only to see Francisco Rodriguez blow the save and vulture his win. Despite three Mets errors, Pelfrey wiggled his way out of trouble and used just 85 pitches to do it.
He fanned Pablo Sandoval to strand Aaron Rowand on third and end the fifth. He put the Giants down in order in the sixth, and worked out of two-on, one-out trouble in the seventh to preserve a 4-3 lead. After putting two on with one out in the eighth, Pelfrey left for Fernando Nieve and an ovation from the 34,681 that cheered the mental toughness he admits he hadn’t always shown.
“Yeah, you have to bear down in certain situations,” said Pelfrey. “At times in the past I was worried about a couple pitches ago that a guy hit, instead of worrying about the pitch I’ve got to make next, which is the most important. So I feel good on the mound, I feel comfortable, and we’ll keep going off this one.”
Pelfrey feeling comfortable and healthy was the best news the Mets could’ve gotten last night.
“He assured me there was no problem,” said manager Jerry Manuel. “He actually had in his mind he was going to get the last six outs of that ballgame. He was very close.”