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Kendrick baffles Mets as Phillies avoid series sweep

Jul 1, 2007 - 10:34 PM PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- The Philadelphia Phillies may have finally found the right rookie pitcher.

Kyle Kendrick pitched 6 2/3 effective innings and Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino both homered as Philadelphia averted a four-game series sweep with a 5-3 victory over the New York Mets on Sunday.

The Phillies dropped the first three games of the series, as the Mets took advantage of Philadelphia's injury-depleted rotation.

With normal starters Jon Lieber and Freddy Garcia both sidelined with long-term injuries, the Phillies were forced to use rookies J.D. Durbin and J.A. Happ in losses on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

"We needed to win today's game," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "I think everybody knows that. This series has been tough on us."

But fellow rookie Kendrick (3-0) was outstanding Sunday, giving up two runs and six hits in an 89-pitch outing. The righthander walked three without a strikeout but limited the Mets' offense to an RBI single by Paul Lo Duca and a home run by Carlos Delgado.

"I didn't try to put any more pressure on myself than there already was," Kendrick said. "I knew we were on the verge of (getting swept), and I tried to go out there and give quality innings. You don't want to get swept at home."

"To be inexperienced, (Kendrick) has pitched much better than I would have thought," Manuel said. "I would have looked at him as basically a five-inning guy. He's given us six (innings) three times and 6 2/3 today."

Kendrick was the beneficiary of three double plays turned by the Phillies.

"The double plays killed us," Mets manager Willie Randolph said. "We could have put more pressure on the kid, but give him credit. He got out of the jams he was in."

J.C. Romero recorded the final out in the seventh, Brian Sanches logged the eighth and lefthander Mike Zagurski recorded the first two outs of the ninth before giving way to Antonio Alfonseca, who closed the door for his sixth save.

In this game, it was the Phillies' turn to take advantage of a young hurler as Mets prized prospect Mike Pelfrey (0-6) was inserted in place of scheduled starter Oliver Perez, who was scratched because of a stiff back.

Greg Dobbs and Aaron Rowand also had drove in runs for Philadelphia, which won for the second time in its last six games.

"Today was the day that we needed to get out there and get a win," Rowand said.

The Mets jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning as Jose Reyes led off with a single and stole second, his National League-leading 40th of the season. Lo Duca drove Reyes in with a RBI single.

The Phillies answered in the second when Pat Burrell worked a two-out walk and scored on Dobbs' RBI double to right center.

"I know (Pelfrey) has a live arm," Dobbs said. "I just tried to stay in the middle of the field, keep the inning going."

Philadelphia took its first lead in the series with two runs in the third. Kendrick reached on third baseman David Wright's two-base throwing error to start the frame. The Phillies got a brief scare when they saw Kendrick pull up at second, but the righthander stayed in the game.

Rollins then hit a 2-0 pitch over the right field fence for his 14th home run to make it 3-1. Pelfrey started to struggle as the Phillies loaded the bases with two outs, but he recovered to get Dobbs on a lineout.

"It was nice to kind of get that momentum back in our favor for this last game and get a lead," Dobbs said.

Delgado cut the deficit to 3-2 when he hit Kendrick's first pitch of the fourth inning into the right field seats for his 13th home run.

Philadelphia scored two in the seventh off Aaron Heilman when Victorino homered off the right-field foul pole and Rowand singled in Chase Utley, who had tripled.

"I came (through) in a big situation," Victorino said. "We needed the extra runs."

Pelfrey, who was making his first start since May 12, gave up three runs - two earned - and four hits with three walks and three strikeouts.

"(Earlier in the season), I was too much of a finesse pitcher," Pelfrey said. "I'm supposed to be a power pitcher, so today I just let everything go. I got back to throwing hard today."

Ruben Gotay had a pinch-hit RBI single in the ninth for New York, which had its four-game winning streak snapped.