Flushing, NY (Sports Network) – Ike Davis went 4-for-4 with three runs driven in and Mike Pelfrey took a shutout into the eighth inning as the Mets held on for a 4-3 win in the second of three games against the Phillies.
Jose Reyes slugged an upper-deck home run and Jesus Feliciano collected two hits, walked and scored twice in the win, New York’s fourth in the last six games.
Davis wound up with the game-winning two-run single in the seventh after the Phillies staged a late comeback bid.
Pelfrey (14-9) got back on track after a pair of subpar losing turns, charged with two runs on six hits with five strikeouts against zero walks in 7 1/3 innings to notch a new career high in wins.
He was pulled in the eighth after allowing a pinch-hit double to Ross Gload and a Shane Victorino RBI single. The Mets went on to use four pitchers in the inning and saw their 4-0 lead cut to one on Ryan Howard’s two-run single to center.
Hisanori Takahashi came on in the ninth and nearly gave up a game-tying longball to Mike Sweeney, whose drive to left hit halfway up the wall for a one-out double. John Mayberry came on as a pinch-runner and moved to third on Wilson Valdez’s groundout. Carlos Ruiz was called upon to pinch hit with the game on the line and grounded weakly to third.
Kyle Kendrick (9-9) was touched for five hits and two runs in lasting five innings. The embattled right-hander has suffered the loss in four of his last five starts.
The Phillies had won four straight and 12 of 15 overall. The loss resulted in Philadelphia’s lead atop the NL East being cut to a half-game over Atlanta, which is in extra innings against the Cardinals.
The Mets went up, 2-0, courtesy of a run-scoring double from Davis in the first and Reyes’ monster home run to right leading off the third.
New York looked for more in the sixth as David Herndon took over for Kendrick. A leadoff hit by David Wright brought on Antonio Bastardo, who yielded a base hit to Davis. Phillies skipper Charlie Manuel then trotted out Jose Contreras, who walked pinch-hitter Chris Carter to load the bases with one out.
Luis Hernandez hit a fly ball to shallow right where Jayson Werth made the catch and fired home in time to get Wright at the plate with Brian Schneider providing a textbook block of the plate.
Schneider flied out to end the seventh with two aboard, and the Mets tacked on two more in the bottom half as Davis greeted J.C. Romero with what proved to be a necessary two-out, two-run single to center for a 4-0 game.
Pelfrey, Bobby Parnell, Pedro Feliciano and Manny Acosta combined to pitch the eighth for New York. Acosta got Werth on strikes to end the inning after Feliciano served up Howard’s two-RBI base hit.
Pelfrey is 9-3 in 16 home starts…Takahashi earned his sixth save of the season…Phils shortstop Jimmy Rollins sat for a second straight game with a hamstring injury but could return Sunday…The Mets evened the season series at seven games apiece…Reyes’ home run was his ninth of 2010. He also swiped his 29th base of the year…Howard now has 98 RBI this season…Raul Ibanez had the lone multi-hit game for Philadelphia.