BALTIMORE — The way Mike Pelfrey’s season has been going, he hasn’t had to make too many in-game adjustments.
But after giving up three runs in the first two innings yesterday, he knew he didn’t have the stuff that has made him one of the best pitchers in the majors this season.
So before the third inning, after checking with pitching coach Dan Warthen, Pelfrey took his first two warm-up pitches from behind the mound. It’s a drill he has done before, but never during a game.
His next two warm-up pitches were “55-footers,” he said, but the results paid off on the mound, as Pelfrey shut out Baltimore in his final four innings on the mound and he won his fifth straight decision in the Mets’ 11-4 victory, despite giving up a season-high nine hits.
“I had to find a way to keep the ball down, so I went out there and did some dry runs and I think it helped me get back down,” the lefty said after he lasted six innings to complete the sweep. “I can’t live up.”
That’s what he did early on, when he gave up two hits and a walk to the first four batters he faced.
“Early in the game, I thought obviously it was gonna be a long day if I didn’t make an adjustment — or a short day, I guess you could call it,” Pelfrey said. “But I was able to turn things around.”
That’s what impressed his teammates about the start.
“That’s what good guys do,” Jason Bay said. “Anybody can go out there with their best stuff and win. But when you have to find what’s working, that’s what separates some guys from others.”
It helped that the Mets’ offense erupted against the inept Orioles, beginning with five runs in the first off of Kevin Millwood.
“It was a day of work for him,” Jerry Manuel said of the afternoon in which it stayed in the 90s.
“It wasn’t as easy for him. I think it took awhile to find his rhythm. His tempo was off.”
But it was good enough for him to win his ninth game of the year.
“That’s the kind of season he’s having,” David Wright said. “That’s the kind of pitcher he is now.”
dan.martin@nypost.com
