It was only fitting there would be fireworks on the night of Francisco Rodriguez’s return to Citi Field. But this time, the reliever had nothing to do with them.
Instead, it was Milwaukee first baseman Prince Fielder who got into it with Tim Byrdak after Fielder grounded out to end the top of the eighth of the Mets’ 6-1 loss to the Brewers.
After an inside fastball to start the at-bat, Fielder sent a grounder to second and then turned and ran toward Byrdak. Fielder was intercepted by Josh Thole and both benches and bullpens emptied, though no punches were thrown.
It was about the only action in an otherwise sleepy game that began after a 2:46 rain delay.
Listless at the plate, ineffective on the mound and sloppy defensively, the loss made the Mets 0-10 to start homestands this season.
With their next eight games coming against teams with the three best records in the National League — the Brewers, Phillies and Braves — things don’t look to be getting better for the Mets (60-64), losers of seven of their last nine.
Last night provided no shortage of culprits, starting with Mike Pelfrey — who hasn’t won since a complete-game victory in Cincinnati on July 27 and has just two victories since July 5.
After being removed from his last start, after getting hit by a line drive off his right elbow in the fifth inning on Tuesday, Pelfrey labored through five innings, giving up four runs and falling to 6-10.
At the beginning of the season, an argument could have been made Pelfrey and R.A. Dickey were the Mets’ two best healthy starting pitchers. They’re a combined 11-21.
A David Wright error on a grounder by Ryan Braun with two outs in the first led to Milwaukee’s first run when Fielder followed with a single and Casey McGahee drove Braun in with another hit.
Pelfrey coasted through the next three innings before coming unhinged in the fifth, when he surrendered three runs.
D.J. Carrasco managed to make matters worse by giving up two runs in the sixth.
And the Mets’ offense was no better, as they failed to get a runner into scoring position against Shaun Marcum until Angel Pagan started the sixth with a double. Fittingly, he was stranded at third after three straight groundouts ended the inning.
Thole finally got the Mets on the board in the sixth. After Jason Pridie’s one-out double, the catcher followed with a run-scoring single to right to make it 6-1.
Corey Hart questioned a called third strike in the second and Braun did the same an inning later, resulting in the left fielder’s ejection.