Pelfrey Solid, Mets Crush Four Homers

NEW YORK-- The Mets needed a start other than Johan Santana to come through for them in a big way. Although they got some of that from Jon Niese on Thursday, they got all of that out of Mike Pelfrey in Friday night's win at cold Citi Field. Pelfrey got into some trouble in the second inning after walking leadoff hitter Adam Dunn. Later on in the inning he allowed a two-run triple to Nationals shortstop Ian Desmond. The Mets quickly trailed 2-0.They would quickly respond though in the bottom of the inning when Jeff Francoeur led off the with a home run, one of two for him and four for the Mets in the game. Rod Barajas tied the game at two with his first of two homers in the fourth when he led off that inning with one.Barajas would then give the Mets a 3-2 lead when he led off the sixth with a homer and Francoeur added another shot in the seventh. From there the Mets cruised as Mike Pelfrey pitched six quality innings, giving up two runs on four hits, walking four and striking out four. Nationals starter Garrett Mock labored through 3 1/3 innings allowing two runs on four hits but walking five and throwing way too many pitches. The Mets scored three runs in the seventh and two more in the eighth to extend their lead to 8-2 and won a well played game against the Nationals to improve to 2-2 on the season. Once again the Mets bullpen, for the third time in four games, shined between Takahashi, Nieve and Mejia who combined for three hitless innings.

Series probable pitchers:

April 10

Washington Nationals: John Lannan (2010: 0-1, 12.27 ERA) vs. New York: Oliver Perez (2009: 3-4, 6.82 ERA)

April 11

Washington Nationals: Livan Hernandez (2009: 9-12, 5.44 ERA) vs. New York: Johan Santana (2010: 1-0, 1.50 ERA)

Upcoming schedule:

New York Mets:

April 10-11 vs. Washington Nationals

April 13-15 @ Colorado Rockies

Washington Nationals:

April 10-11 @ New York Mets

April 12, 14-15 @ Philadelphia Phillies