Nick Pivetta looks sharp as Phillies pound Mets

NEW YORK  —  Andy MacPhail sat in the Phillies dugout on Friday and was asked if he felt this season's struggles led him to believe that the team was further away from contention. The Phillies president, in his second full season at the helm, said the club still had a lot of baseball to play and there were some unknowns.

And then he changed course.

"I'll answer one other thing on that subject," MacPhail said. "For me, and I'm not in the baseball operations, you see flashes of it. You see flashes. You see Nick Pivetta go out there and see a front-line guy."

How prescient. Pivetta showed those flashes less than 48 hours later as he dominated the Mets for seven innings Sunday in a 7-1 win at Citi Field. This season  —  and certainly the final three months  —  will be a gauge to see what type of pieces the Phillies have going forward. Pivetta pitched Sunday like he may be a piece. The righthander allowed just one hit, struck out four and walked four. His outing helped the Phillies avoid a sweep and was a great response from the 24-year-old after the worst start of his young major-league career. It was the second time in his last four starts that Pivetta logged seven innings.

"He still needs work on his secondary pitches, but once he hones those, he's got a chance to be really good," manager Pete Mackanin said. "I really like him."

Pivetta carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning when T.J. Rivera rocked a homer to left-center. Pivetta would not fold. He forced Jose Reyes to pop up and ended the inning with a strikeout of  Rafael Montero. It was an ever so brief flirtation with trouble. Pivetta would not allow another hit. He controlled the Mets with his fastball, throwing it for 75 percent of his pitches.

"That was my No. 1 focus, a good rebound there. I didn't want to throw 2.2 innings again in 88 pitches," Pivetta said. "… I just had an off outing last time and I really just focused on going out there and doing what I did in the past two starts before that after I got called back up. I think that was the focus, got back to it, and thought it worked out well. "

The Phillies scored four runs in the second inning. Maikel Franco blasted a two-run double and Andrew Knapp drove him in with a single. Knapp then scored from second on a wild pitch after Mets catcher Rene Rivera had trouble finding the ball near the backstop. Brock Stassi added some protection for the bullpen with an RBI single after he pinch-hit for Pivetta in the eighth. Daniel Nava followed with a two-run single. It was more than enough.

"Big hit by Stassi," Mackanin said. "That was huge to get that run. And Nava with one of his three hits."

Pivetta started the seventh with a leadoff walk to Jay Bruce. He then fell behind 3-1 to Lucas Duda and the Citi Field crowd was starting to buzz. Pivetta challenged him with a fastball and Duda popped up to center. Aaron Altherr seemed to have trouble finding the ball in the sun but was still able to make the grab before the ball popped from his glove.

The umpire ruled Duda out as Altherr mishanded the ball when he was transferring it out of his glove. Bruce was caught between bases and Altherr fired to first, where Tommy Joseph tagged a sliding Bruce for a double play. The Phillies caught a huge break. Pivetta retired the next batter with ease. His day was finished and those flashes were obvious.