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Delgado, Pelfrey lead Mets past Braves

Sep 2, 2007 - 12:17 AM By Phil Foley PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ATLANTA (Ticker) -- Carlos Delgado continues to carry the New York Mets down the stretch.

Delgado homered for the third straight game and rookie Mike Pelfrey hurled six effective innings to power the Mets to a 5-1 win over the free-falling Atlanta Braves on Saturday.

Coming into their series with the Braves, the Mets had dropped five straight, including a four-game sweep at the hands of the second-place Philadelphia Phillies to see their lead dwindle to two games in the National League East Division.

But Delgado, who batted .400 (6-for-15) with a homer and seven RBI during the Mets' miserable four-game set in Philadelphia, continued his torrid hitting in Atlanta.

The Puerto Rican slugger, who blasted a three-run homer in Friday's contest, delivered once again on Saturday.

With the Mets leading 1-0 in the top of the fifth, Delgado lined the 3-2 offering from Braves starter Chuck James (9-10) into the right field bleachers for his 21st homer of the season.

"I got a good pitch to hit in that situation," Delgado said. "He left a fastball over the plate and I was able to (get) that ball."

Delgado also helped the Mets score their first run by grounding into a double play in the second inning and capped the scoring with a sacrifice fly in the ninth.

"I didn't pick the time (to get hot), it kind of worked out that way," Delgado said. "If I picked the time, I would be hot all year. Hopefully, I can continue to swing the bat well for the next six, seven weeks."

"He's been swinging the bat well"," Mets outfielder Carlos Beltran said. "He's been able to get some key his for us. We're happy about that because Carlos is a big part of the ballclub."

Willie Harris added a sacrifice fly later in the inning to give New York a 3-0 lead.

Pelfrey (1-7), who was recalled from Class AAA New Orleans prior to the game, hurled arguably the best outing of his brief major league career. The righthander allowed one run and one hit, walked three and struck out a career-high seven in six solid frames.

"Mike's got it in him," Mets catcher Paul LoDuca said of Pelfrey, who was winless in 10 appearances prior in three stints with the big club this year. "He did it all spring training. He got a little gun shy. He went down (to the minors) and worked hard and has gotten better. He's going to be a good pitcher for a long time in this league."

The 23-year old rookie set down the first 11 batters until issuing a free pass to Chipper Jones in the fourth. Mark Teixeira followed with Atlanta's lone single off Pelfrey, but the 2005 first round pick struck out Brian McCann to end the inning.

Atlanta had its best threat against Pelfrey in the bottom of the fifth.

The rookie hit Jeff Francoeur to start the frame ahead of walking Andruw Jones on five pitches. After sparsely used Chris Woodward bunted out to third baseman David Wright on a 3-1 pitch, Pelfrey continued his wild streak by walking Scott Thorman to load the bases. Harris cut the deficit to 3-1 with a sacrifice fly before Pelfrey wiggled out of the jam by striking out Kelly Johnson on a 3-2 slider.

"I just calmed down and took a deep breath and relaxed," Pelfrey said. "I don't know how many 3-2 sliders I've thrown this year, but I continued to work on it and I continued to get better."

Beltran led off the seventh by smashing his 26th homer to make it 4-1, and Delgado added a sacrifice fly in the ninth to finish the scoring.

Guillermo Mota hurled a scoreless seventh before Pedro Feliciano worked the final two frames, striking out five of the six batters he faced, to record his second save in 2007.

The power outage put the Braves' fading playoff hopes in further jeopardy. Atlanta (69-67), which lost for the 11th time in their last 16 games, fell 6 1/2 games behind the Mets in the NL East. The Braves also fell six games behind the wild card race.

"We have to win," McCann said. "In order to make the playoffs, we're going to have to play better than we've been playing."

Atlanta, which also scored only one run despite having the bases loaded and no outs in the sixth inning on Friday, continued to struggle at the plate. The club, which had just two hits and struck out 13 times on Saturday, has collected just two runs and six hits, striking out an astounding 22 times in their first two games of the three game set.

"It's not a good time for our offense to not show up," Teixeira said. "But their pitching definitely has done a good job shutting us out the last couple of days."

"(We have) a good lineup," Braves manager Bobby Cox said of his slumping offense. "The Mets are the same way too. The Yankees have nothing but hitting, but they get shut down too."

James, who was activated from the disabled list prior to the contest, allowed three runs and five hits and struck out one without a walk in five frames.

Lastings Milledge homered in the fourth for the Mets (74-61), who lead the Phillies by 2 1/2 games in the NL East.