PHOENIX – Two thirds of the damage yesterday against Mike Pelfrey was essentially self-inflicted.
Poor command was a major part of Pelfrey’s shaky outing yesterday, as the Met rookie continued to struggle. In the Mets’ 3-1 loss to the Diamondbacks, Pelfrey surrendered a tolerable three runs on three hits in 5 1/3 innings, but he also issued four walks and two hit-by-pitches.
Two of the walks and both hit-by-pitches were critical.
The 23-year-old righty issued back-to-back walks in the first inning that helped lead to Arizona’s first run. Then five innings later, he drilled two Diamondbacks with pitches to help bring in their third run.
“It’s my fault,” Pelfrey said. “I shouldn’t have put those guys on base in the first place. It’s just something I’m just going to have to get better at in order to be successful.”
Pelfrey’s now 0-4 with a 6.39 ERA in five starts, and there has to be a chance that if Jorge Sosa keeps performing that Pelfrey could lose his spot to Sosa once Orlando Hernandez returns from the DL. Sosa made his Mets debut on Saturday night and was impressive, tossing 6 1/3 innings of two-run ball. He’s likely to start again Friday, with Pelfrey perhaps slated for Saturday. It’s not yet known when El Duque will be back, but Pelfrey might be under pressure to have better outings.
In his first three starts this season, Pelfrey hadn’t pitched well overall, but in his last one, he improved against Florida. Yesterday in the first inning, though, Pelfrey served up Conor Jackson’s one-out double, walked Orlando Hudson and Eric Byrnes and gave up a sacrifice fly to put Arizona up 1-0. In his five starts, Pelfrey has given up runs in four of his first innings, surrendering a total of seven runs.
“He needs to just work on coming out of the bullpen and carrying it into the game,” Willie Randolph said.
After the Mets tied it at 1-1, Pelfrey gave up two doubles in the fourth to put Arizona up 2-1. Two innings later, he fell behind 3-1 by almost forcing a run in solely by hit batters. He opened the sixth by hitting Byrnes and one out later, with Byrnes on third, he hit Carlos Quentin. Randolph pulled Pelfrey, and Pedro Feliciano gave up Miguel Montero’s sac fly.
According to Willie Randolph, Pelfrey “has to correct” his free passes and hit batters. Said the manager, “Anytime you go into a ballgame, you want to make them beat you.”
“I had a real hard time commanding my slider today,” Pelfrey said. “I thought the fastball was OK for the most part, except for the [four] walks, the two hit batsmen.”
Heading into yesterday, the Mets had won 13 straight against the D’backs in Arizona, but the streak is over now, as in addition to Pelfrey’s outing, the team didn’t hit enough. The Mets, who are now headed to San Francisco to face Barry Bonds, put up one run on six hits, with Livan Hernandez holding them down across seven innings. They went 1-for-14 with men on base.