Mike Pelfrey helps New York Mets avoid sweep with 5-2 win over San Francisco Giants – MLB Update
The New York Mets’ starter, Mike Pelfrey tossed seven tough innings to help the club avoid a sweep, over-powering the league rivals San Francisco Giants 5-2 at Citi Field on Thursday, May 5.
Pelfrey pitched a strong first inning to set the strong foundation for the club. The batters took full advantage of the momentum and gained an early lead in the second inning.
Catcher Ronny Paulino hit a grounder to short-stop and got out by a double play, however Jason Bay loaded at third base, stole a leading run to take a 1-0 lead. Then Jose Reyes drove in triple to centre-field for a RBI double and took the lead to 3-0.
The Giants were facing a 0-3 deficit in the top of the fourth, when Mike Fontenot launched an account opening homer off Pelfrey for the club and trimmed the lead by one run.
Pelfrey gave another run in the fifth and this might have proved devastating for the Mets, if Carlos Beltran did not launch a brilliant two-run homer for the club in the bottom of the inning to elevate the lead to 5-2.
This homer gave Pelfrey great confidence and he struck back in great fashion and held the opposition to no-score in his remaining three innings. Overall, he tossed seven innings, gave just two runs on four hits, walked two and made five strike-outs to earn
his second win in 2011.
Pelfrey accepted the faults he made during the game and said, “I was overthrowing it, trying to do too much and trying to make things happen.”
The Giants dream to sweep the Mets for the first time since 2002 was shattered by the impressive all-round performance of the Mets. In the ninth, the Giants loaded the bases with one out against Mets’ closer Francisco Rodriguez, but the opportunity went
to waste when Miguel Tejada struck-out and designated hitter Buster Posey grounded out.
Rodriguez tossed an exceptional last inning to escape the danger and took out two batters to save his seventh game.
The Mets’ Manager Terry Collins was pleased with the performance the pitcher put on with the ball and said, “I’ve seen it before, this guy needs some tension, and he needs to be on the edge. I wish he would not do that. I’m too old to watch this stuff.”
The Giants’ starter, Jonathan Sanchez had a bad day with the ball, as he pitched five loose innings, gave away five runs on five hits, walked six and took out six batters. It cost Sanchez his second loss with a 3.55 ERA.
Sanchez said of his performance, “I’m not getting anything over the plate. I try to do my best. Nothing’s working right now.”
The reliever Guillermo Mota and closer Dan Runzler tossed strong innings and did not yield any run, but that was not enough to snatch the game from the Mets.