Pelfrey fights self, Mets fight for 6-3 win

WASHINGTON -- Forget his hands. Mike Pelfrey should try licking the baseball instead.

Maybe then, with the sticky help of saliva, Pelfrey could come up with some kind of swing-and-miss pitch to avoid torturous outings like the one Sunday in the Mets' 6-3 victory at Nationals Park.

Relying mostly on a four-seam fastball that climbed as high as 97 mph and hovered in the 93-to-95 range, Pelfrey couldn't squeeze enough from the rest of his repertoire to avoid burning out after only 4 2/3 innings.

"They wore me out," said Pelfrey, who threw 106 pitches. "It was the first time all year that I felt like that. I was exhausted."

After beginning this season as the Mets' de facto ace, Pelfrey has turned into the second coming of John Maine, another one-trick pony whose failure to put away hitters rendered him an ineffective starter. Pelfrey also employs a curveball, slider and splitter, but those pitches are not good enough to miss bats on a consistent basis.

"I don't know what else you want me to throw," Pelfrey said. "A knuckleball, maybe? A screwball?"

A month ago, the front office considered it a no-brainer to bring back Pelfrey, even with an arbitration-enhanced salary of roughly $6 million for next season. But the ability to throw 100-plus pitches per start means little if it doesn't get the Mets past the fifth inning, and that's when Pelfrey hit the wall again Sunday.

Afterward, Pelfrey checked the video and counted 26 foul balls, and only four or five heading into the fifth. In two previous starts, both lasting six innings, Pelfrey threw 125 and 116 pitches, respectively. Sunday, in his final two innings, Pelfrey had six at-bats of at least six pitches, including one that went nine and a pair of 10s.

"I don't think it's ever too late for a guy to develop a pitch that can make a difference," manager Terry Collins said. "We've got to do something."

Pelfrey got two quick outs in the fifth but then walked three straight batters as he approached the century mark, and that prompted Collins to pull him for Ryota Igarashi. Overall, Pelfrey matched a season high with five walks.

"Out of the stretch position, he just throws too many balls," pitching coach Dan Warthen said. "He's gifted, he really is. There are still things he has to get better at."

The Mets finished the job without him. Lucas Duda hit a second-deck blast, his ninth homer of the season, in the Mets' three-run sixth inning. Ruben Tejada, in his first start since getting drilled by a pitch Thursday, and Willie Harris each had a two-run single. The Mets even added a run in the sixth on a squeeze bunt by Mike Nickeas.

Overall, Pelfrey allowed three runs, all of them coming in the fourth inning on RBI doubles by Danny Espinosa and Wilson Ramos and Chris Marrero's groundout. In addition, Pelfrey owes Igarashi dinner for bailing him out of the bases-loaded jam by getting Marrero on a pop-up to short in the fifth.

Thanks in part to a few unusual lineup wrinkles, the Mets took a 2-0 lead in the third inning. Although Nick Evans had gone deep on back-to-back days, Collins sat him down in favor of Josh Satin, who got the start at first base in his major-league debut. Satin led off the third with a single, his first career hit, and Nickeas followed with another single.

With Collins deciding at the last minute to give Jose Reyes a breather, Tejada started at shortstop and also batted leadoff for the first time in his career. That worked out well when Tejada stroked a two-run single to rightfield.