One day after being overlooked by Charlie Manuel for the NL All-Star team, Mike Pelfrey made the Phillies manager look smart.
Pelfrey struggled throughout the early-going for the Mets last night, but it wasn’t until a controversial call in the fifth inning that the right-hander completely unraveled in an 8-6 loss to the Reds at Citi Field.
“For the first time in over a year, I let my emotions get the best of me,” Pelfrey said. “It wasn’t very good on my part.”
Pelfrey extracated himself from a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the fourth, then found the bases full again in the fifth with no outs and Scott Rolen at the plate.
Pelfrey’s 2-2 offering was inside and initially was ruled a foul tip by home-plate umpire Jerry Meals. Second-base ump Dan Iassogna, however, told Meals that he saw the pitch hit Rolen, forcing in a run for a 2-1 Reds lead.
Mets manager Jerry Manuel argued the call and was ejected for the second time this season.
Initially, it looked like Pelfrey was going to escape the inning with just the one run scoring after he retired the next two batters. However, Pelfrey didn’t get a strike call to Drew Stubbs and then threw a splitter when Rod Barajas asked for a fastball.
Stubbs ripped a two-run single and Pelfrey surrendered a double to Corky Miller for another two runs. Cincinnati starting pitcher Trevor Wood followed with a run-scoring triple, finishing Pelfrey.
“He was somewhat frustrated,” Manuel said of Pelfrey and the six-run fifth inning. “He thought a previous pitch was a strike and I think after that point, he kind of lost it there.”
The Mets managed to rally for five runs in the bottom of the inning, sparked by a leadoff homer from Angel Pagan and a two-run double from Alex Cora.
Despite solid relief work — including three strong innings from Fernando Nieve, who had been in mothballs — the Mets got no closer.
After the game, the Mets remained upset that the Rolen play had been overturned.
“The Rolen reversal kind of changes everything,” Pelfrey said. “The guy 30 feet behind me obviously had a better view of it than everybody else, I guess. It’s pretty tough to overturn that call.”
The umpires stood by the call.
“We just got done seeing it,” crew chief Dale Scott, who was umpiring third, said afterwards. “It appears that we got the play right.”
Barajas, who also vehemently argued the call, said he was told that slow-motion replays showed the ball did hit Rolen, but didn’t think anyone could have seen it without video enhancement.
Nevertheless, Barajas acknowledged the Mets weren’t helped by the fact that Pelfrey, who wound up surrendering a season-high seven runs in 4 2/3 innings, wasn’t at his best.
“He was getting into trouble but pitching out of it,” Barajas said. “Then he had tough calls in that inning. When he threw the different pitch than I called, at that point, I realized it was affecting him. That’s the first time I’ve seen that.”
It was the first time Pelfrey had lost at home since Sept. 23 — a span of nine starts.
“Mike probably doesn’t quite have some of the stuff he had earlier in the year, but I still think he’s pitching very well,” Manuel said. “When things don’t go your way, it kind of snowballs. [But] am I concerned with Mike? Not at all.”