Pelfrey's elbow OK in relief as Mets lose

It was very late back on the East Coast, but still a bit early for Mike Pelfrey when the bullpen gate opened Tuesday night at PETCO Park.

The last time Pelfrey made a relief appearance was to close out the 20th inning of the April 17, 2010, marathon in St. Louis. So when the phone rang for him in the eighth inning, this was more of an exercise than an actual emergency.

Terry Collins figured it was a good time for Pelfrey to get some work, as well as test his right elbow, and his pain-free outing was really the only positive to be gleaned from the Mets' 6-1 loss to the Padres.

Pelfrey was forced to leave Saturday's game in the fifth inning after he was struck on the right elbow by Gerardo Parra's line drive. That limited him to 50 pitches, and with Pelfrey scheduled to start Friday against the Brewers at Citi Field, Tuesday's appearance served as a dry run.

"My elbow felt great," Pelfrey said. "It's not an issue. I didn't think it was an issue the other day when I came out."

Pelfrey's velocity stayed at a steady 95-96 mph, a little high by his standards, but he still allowed a leadoff triple to Nick Hundley and RBI single by Alberto Gonzalez. Not that the results mattered all that much.

"It was fun," Pelfrey said. "It got the adrenaline flowing."

Maybe Collins should start considering him as a closer because the other two candidates - Bobby Parnell and Pedro Beato - haven't been very impressive. Parnell blew a 4-3 lead on Monday night and Beato followed that on Tuesday by allowing a leadoff homer to Cameron Maybin in the seventh inning.

Maybin hammered a 3-and-2 fastball into the leftfield bleachers. One out later, Jesus Guzman ripped a double to leftfield and later blew through a stop sign at third to score on Orlando Hudson's single. It wasn't a save opportunity, but every time either Beato or Parnell takes the mound, that's part of the evaluation process.

"I'll reiterate what I've said before - when you go on the field, people are watching," Collins said. "As I told those guys down in the bullpen, your role is real simple. The most important role is to get the guy out at the plate and lately we haven't been doing that."

Jonathon Niese (11-10) pitched six innings, but allowed a season-high 10 hits for the second time in three starts. The Padres scored two runs in the first inning on RBI singles by Hudson and Hundley, who also tripled and scored in the fourth.

"It was just one of those things where we had a little but of bad luck," Niese said. "Hopefully our luck turns around."