Perez Loses Control Early As Eaton, Phillies Take Care of Mets
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Adam Eaton pitched seven steady innings and the Philadelphia Phillies walked their way to their second victory of the season, beating the Mets 5–2 last night.
The Phillies took advantage of seven early walks by Oliver Perez and avoided starting 1–7 for the first time since 1987. Still looking for their big bats to bust out, they drew 11 free passes in all but stranded 14 runners.
Philadelphia batters began the night leading the major leagues with 40 walks.
Eaton (1–1) allowed four hits and three walks in his first win with the Phillies. Signed to a $24.5 million, three-year contract in the offseason, he was tagged for eight runs — seven earned — and seven hits over 4 2-3 innings during his first outing of the year, against Atlanta.
Eaton has always enjoyed facing the Mets. He improved to 4–0 with a 1.67 ERA in four career starts against New York.
Antonio Alfonseca worked a perfect eighth, and Tom Gordon got three outs for his first save after blowing his initial chance this season.
A lack of control was one of the reasons Perez was shipped out of Pittsburgh last year, and he couldn’t find the plate again yesterday. The erratic left-hander walked the bases loaded in the second inning before retiring Eaton to avoid any damage.
Perez (1–1) wasn’t as fortunate in the third. After getting two quick outs, he gave up a single to Chase Utley and walked four straight. Perez then plunked Rod Barajas with a 2–2 pitch, making it 3–0.
That was all for Perez, who matched his career high for walks and threw only 32 strikes in 73 pitches. It was a strikingly sudden loss of command, too. He did not walk a batter in his first start, when he pitched seven strong innings to beat Atlanta 11–1. And he walked just seven in 25 2-3 innings in spring training.
The Mets loaded the bases with none out in the fourth, but managed only one run on Moises Alou‘s double-play grounder. Utley made a tough play at second on Alou’s hard smash and did well to turn it into two outs.
Jose Reyes‘ RBI single cut it to 3–2 in the fifth, but Reyes was caught stealing on a pitchout.
