NewsPelfrey, Mets blank Crew to end slide
Church's RBI single enough to back righty's 7 2/3 frames
By Cash Kruth / MLB.com
07/01/09 6:23 PM ET
MILWUAKEE -- Mike Pelfrey wasn't around for the "family discussion" Mets manager Jerry Manuel initiated Tuesday night, but Pelfrey pitched like he didn't want to let his teammates down Wednesday afternoon.Pelfrey held the Brewers scoreless for 7 2/3 innings, as the Mets beat the Brewers, 1-0, at Miller Park to break a five-game losing streak and avoid the sweep.
"Mike Pelfrey was outstanding," Manuel said. "Tremendous, tremendous effort by him. [He had] good command of all his pitches [and he] got ground balls when he needed them."
After two key errors gave the Mets their longest losing streak of the season Tuesday night, Manuel closed clubhouse doors for nearly a half-hour. Inside he talked to the players about trying to block out negativity and reaffirmed to them he thought there was enough talent on the roster to compete.
Pelfrey, however, wasn't part of that meeting. As the starter for Wednesday's day game, he left Tuesday night's loss around the seventh inning. He had no idea anything had happened until Wednesday morning when he got on the team bus, which was one of Manuel's attempts to unite the players after Tuesday.
"Somebody on the bus said, 'Hey, thanks for showing up,'" Pelfrey said. "I think [catcher Brian Schneider] was giving me [a hard time] about it."
By late Wednesday afternoon, no one was giving Pelfrey anything but a pat on the back after he led the Mets to their fifth shutout this season. He matched his season-best mark of 7 2/3 innings, and held the Brewers to just six hits, all of which were singles.
Pelfrey (6-3) also picked up his first win in his past three starts.
"I thought I commanded my fastball well [and] I thought I commanded the inside part of the plate, too," Pelfrey said. "I was trying to throw more sinkers and that was my pitch today."
A pitchers' duel throughout the afternoon, Pelfrey and Brewers starter Yovani Gallardo held both offenses in check.
Neither team scored until Ryan Church lined an RBI single up the middle in the sixth inning to score Luis Castillo, who led off the inning with a double.
"He's nasty. He's got great stuff and he controls all of his pitches," Church said of Gallardo (8-5), who struck out a career-high 12 batters while taking the loss. "Today he was able to keep everybody guessing and he was throwing that curveball in the dirt."
The Mets came dangerously close to having another gaffe cost them a game in the sixth inning. Pelfrey gave up a leadoff single to Prince Fielder, who advanced to second when the pitcher committed his league-leading fifth balk of the year.
Pelfrey said instead of stepping directly behind the mound, he stepped a little to the side -- something he said he wasn't aware was against the rules. The balk ended up not hurting the Mets, as Schneider caught Fielder too far off second base on a Milwaukee bunt attempt and threw him out.
Brewers left fielder Ryan Braun led off the ninth inning with a single, but Francisco Rodriguez retired the next three batters to earn his 21st save of the season.
"[Pelfrey] had great movement on his fastball," Brewers manager Ken Macha said. "He threw a couple of pitches to guys that were almost unhittable. He struck out [Fielder] his first time up on a great sinker. In the first couple of innings, he was a strike-throwing machine."
Manuel didn't give himself any credit for Wednesday's win because of calling Tuesday's postgame meeting or making the whole team ride together on the bus to the ballpark Wednesday morning.
Instead, the manager gave Pelfrey all the credit, and said teams need pitching performances such as the one the righty turned in to get out of ruts like the Mets are currently in.
"That all hinders on our starting pitching," Manuel said. "If the starting pitcher goes out there and works fast, throws strikes and keeps the ball on the ground, it keeps everybody involved, and that's what [Pelfrey] did today. That's a big effort from him. We needed to get that type of effort against another quality starter."
Cash Kruth is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
