It’s never, ever easy.
The New York Mets (33-29) beat the Baltimore Orioles (27-37) by a score of 6-4.
Mike Pelfrey set down the first 11 batters that faced him before giving up a single to Nick Markakis in the fourth inning. Pelfrey got into trouble in the fifth, but struck out Brian Roberts with the bases loaded before any damage was done.
Pelfrey let up two runs over 5 2-3 innings, both coming on a Markakis home run to right field in the sixth inning. Pelfrey allowed five hits, walked three and struck out two.
Not a spectacular start, but Pelfrey did just enough. He needed 109 pitches as he worked through the last few innings on the bump.
Sean Green relieved Pelfrey and threw 1 2-3 hitless innings. Green hasn’t allowed a run in his last 14 innings.
In May, Green was awful. In June, he’s been spectacular.
Bobby Parnell entered for the bottom of the ninth and allowed two hits to lead off the inning before being removed in favor of Francisco Rodriguez. K-Rod walked in a run and induced a ground ball, allowing two runs to score, before striking out Adam Jones to end the game to notch a win for the Mets and a save for himself.
Whewwww. Is anyone else worried about Parnell? I am.
Fernando Martinez started the Mets off in the fourth inning with a walk. After Brian Roberts booted a would-be double play ball by Carlos Beltran, the Mets strung together four hits and a sacrifice fly to plate four runs against Jeremy Guthrie.
The Mets again got on the board in the seventh, with what ended up being the winning runs. The bases were loaded with two outs for David Wright. Wright skied a ball to shallow right field, which send first baseman Aubrey Huff back. Huff attempted to make an over the shoulder catch, but the ball fell to the grass, allowing Alex Cora and Martinez to score.
Cora, Wright and Schneider each had multiple hit games.
Again, whew. Wright didn’t bust out of the box on the ball, as he should have been standing on second when this play was done. There needs to be a better attention to detail.
It shouldn’t have been this close, but a win is a win.