Mets' Pelfrey seeks turnaround against Diamondbacks

Baseball Betting Lines

07/19/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After winning 10 of his first 15 starts of the season, New York Mets right-hander Mike Pelfrey has fallen on hard times. Pelfrey will try to bounce back when he takes the mound Monday in the opener of a three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks from Chase Field.

Pelfrey was 10-2 with a 2.71 earned run average after a win over the Minnesota Twins on June 25, but is just 0-2 with a less desirable 10.13 ERA over his past three starts. He has dropped back-to-back appearances and previously took the mound in last Saturday's 4-0 setback versus Atlanta, allowing all four runs and 12 hits in only four innings. He hasn't been able to pitch past the fifth inning in each of his previous three outings.

The right-hander, who is 4-2 on the road this season and was slated to pitch Saturday before neck stiffness pushed his start back, will face Arizona for the sixth time in his career. He is 0-4 with a 5.22 ERA over the first five appearances in this series, and went 0-2 in two starts a year ago.

New York hopes Pelfrey will be at full strength when it resume an 11-game road trip in the desert. The Mets salvaged the finale of a four-game series against the San Francisco Giants over the weekend with Sunday's 4-3 victory in 10 innings at AT&T Park. Ike Davis put the visitors ahead for good with an RBI double in the 10th inning that plated Jason Bay, who reached on a single.

Davis had three hits and two RBI, while Bay also ended with a trio of hits for the Mets, who won for just the second time in eight games. David Wright homered for the 15th time in a winning effort and starter Johan Santana fired eight innings of one-run ball for the no-decision. Closer Francisco Rodriguez blew the save in the ninth, but came back for the win in the 10th.

"This locker room would have been a lot different right now [if we had lost]," right fielder Jeff Francoeur said on the team's website.

The Mets hope to carry the momentum over into this series with Arizona and will visit the Los Angeles Dodgers for four games afterwards. In injury news for the Mets, second baseman Luis Castillo (heel/foot) is expected to be activated from the 15-day disabled list Monday, while shortstop Jose Reyes (oblique) is listed as probable. Wright is also probable with a balky knee.

Arizona has dropped four in a row and was swept in three games by the NL West- leading San Diego Padres over the weekend. In Sunday's 6-4 setback in the series finale, Edwin Jackson was dealt the loss for allowing four runs and nine hits in six innings with seven K's and four walks.

Kelly Johnson and Justin Upton both homered and finished with two RBI for the Diamondbacks, who have lost 10 of their last 12 games. Upton finished with a team-best three hits and is riding a modest five-game hitting streak. He has hit safely in 20 of his last 28 contests, including 11 multi-hit games.

"We battled to the end and that's all you can ask for," said Upton, who had an RBI double in the ninth. "Heath Bell is an All-Star for a reason."

Bell then got D'Backs catcher Miguel Montero to ground out to end the game.

The Diamondbacks will also host NL West-rival San Francisco for four games after this set with New York.

Ian Kennedy has put together back-to-back wins just once this season and hopes to do it again when he toes the rubber Monday for the D'Backs. Kennedy was 0-5 with a 5.29 earned run average in eight starts before ending the slide in a 5-4 win over Florida on July 10. He allowed two runs over 5 1/3 innings, struck out five and walked two batters to improve to 4-7 in 18 starts.

The right-hander, who is 2-2 in eight home starts this season, has never faced the Mets in his career.

New York and Arizona are meeting for the first time since the Diamondbacks won five of seven meetings a year ago.

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