The Mets won the three contests by a 16-0 margin. R.A. Dickey and Raul Valdes combined on the mound for an 8-0 win Tuesday. The next night, Hisanori Takahashi and three relievers held the Phillies in check in a 5-0 final.
Jason Bay stroked an RBI double in the first inning and Jose Reyes added a two-run double in the seventh as part of a three-hit night.
Pelfrey (7-1) walked five and fanned five batters in winning his third straight start in New York’s fifth consecutive victory. Francisco Rodriguez pitched the ninth inning for his ninth save.
Cole Hamels (5-3) was charged with nine hits and three runs — two earned — over 6 1/3 innings to have his three-start winning streak broken.
The Phillies saw their lead atop the division trimmed to 1 1/2 games over Atlanta. Only three games separate the division from top to bottom.
The two-time defending National League champions have been shut out in four of their last five games, in fact scoring in just one inning. The Phillies put up three runs in the ninth inning of an 8-3 defeat to Boston on Sunday and have been outscored 29-3 during their five-game losing streak.
The Phillies have also not scored off an opposing starter for the last five games, a span of 35 innings. That’s their longest stretch of being blanked by starting pitchers since 1983 when they were shut out for 39 consecutive frames by starters.
The Mets, who have thrown 27 straight shutout innings overall, are still well short of their record for longest shutout streak, a 42-inning stretch from September 23-28, 1969 when the Miracle Mets featured pitchers Gary Gentry, Jerry Koosman and Tom Seaver. Those last three shutouts came against the Phillies.