(Sports Network) - Mike Pelfrey will take the mound this evening for the NL East-leading New York Mets, who will wrap up a short two-game series versus the Washington Nationals at Shea Stadium.

Pelfrey was 3-0 in four starts before losing his previous outing on Friday versus the Philadelphia Phillies. He was reached for three runs -- two earned -- on four hits in seven innings of a 3-0 setback, falling to 13-9 with a 3.62 earned run average in 28 starts this season.

The right-hander is 1-1 in two starts against Washington this season and 2-2 in six lifetime appearances in this series. Pelfrey will try to push the Mets to their third straight win Wednesday after they handed Washington a 10-8 loss last night.

Carlos Delgado hit two homers for the second straight game for the Mets, who are 2 1/2 games ahead of the Phillies in the National League East division. Philadelphia lost to Florida on Tuesday night.

Delgado, who homered twice in the nightcap of a doubleheader against the Phils on Sunday, finished the game 3-for-3 with three RBI and three runs scored. Carlos Beltran and Ryan Church both went deep and added a pair of RBI apiece in the win. New York is 2-2 on an eight-game homestand.

Starter Oliver Perez allowed seven runs on eight hits and two walks while striking out three batters in just 3 1/3 innings for a no-decision. Joe Smith picked up the win after throwing 1 2/3 scoreless innings of relief and Luis Ayala posted his sixth save.

Washington had a two-game winning streak stopped with Tuesday's loss and fell for the fourth time in seven tries. Anderson Hernandez had three RBI and two runs scored while Cristian Guzman had two hits -- including a homer -- two runs scored and two RBI. Ryan Zimmerman added three hits in the loss, the Nationals' third in five games.

John Lannan started for the Nats and struggled in three innings, giving up five runs on eight hits and a walk with two strikeouts. Charlie Manning suffered the loss after giving up back-to-back homers in the sixth inning.

The Nationals, who are 2-3 on a nine-game road trip, will send Odalis Perez to the hill tonight. Perez is 1-0 in his previous two trips to the mound and did not record a decision on September 3 versus Philadelphia. In the 9-7 victory over the Phillies, Perez yielded three runs in five frames.

The left-hander, who is 1-1 in three starts against the Mets in 2008, owns a 5-6 record and a 4.11 earned run average through 19 career games (12 starts) in this series.

New York is 9-4 against the Nationals this season and will visit Washington for four games from September 15-18 at Nationals Park.