PHILADELPHIA — Jon Niese barely had a tense moment in yesterday’s start against the Phillies.
Maybe the two singles he allowed in the first inning qualified as tension. But the Mets lefty quickly escaped and cruised into the seventh inning. In the end, he had a five-hitter — all singles — over 6 2/3 shutout innings in the Mets’ 5-0 victory.
Niese (2-0) allowed only two runners to reach second base. Bobby Parnell and Jon Rauch then combined for 2 1/3 innings of shutout relief in giving the Mets only their second shutout in the nine seasons of Citizens Bank Park’s existence.
The other Mets shutout here came on Aug. 7, 2010, with Johan Santana and Francisco Rodriguez combining for the victory.
“It is tough, especially with the wind blowing out,” said Niese, who struck out five and walked one. “It’s a small ballpark and with the wind blowing out you really had to focus on keeping the ball down and keeping them off balance. I think we did that.”
* Citizens Bank Park has been a circus for Mike Pelfrey, both before and during games.
Pelfrey, today’s scheduled starting pitcher for the Mets, is 2-3 with an 8.60 ERA over eight career starts here. More memorable to Pelfrey is the last game he pitched in this ballpark — last Aug. 24 — when he got the victory after contributing to a fan getting ejected.
Pelfrey was warming in the bullpen before the game when a fan claiming allegiance to the Mets started taunting him for his penchant to lick his fingers.
After hearing the taunts, Pelfrey licked his hand just to get a reaction from the fan.
“The guy started cussing me out and he wouldn’t stop and he got kicked out,” Pelfrey said yesterday. “I’m like, ‘Geez, man, really?’ I was just joking around with him. Obviously he didn’t like it. He blew me up and finally they escorted him out.”
Pelfrey is ready for any reception he receives today.
“If I make it through the bullpen [session], then it’s OK,” Pelfrey said.
* Manager Terry Collins plans to rest Lucas Duda today and give Scott Hairston the start in right field. Kirk Nieuwenhuis will play center and get his first start against a lefty, Cole Hamels.