Remembering Mets History (1975) Joe Torre Grounds Into a Record Four Double Plays
The Mets were barely over .500 & ten games back of the first place Pittsburgh Pirates. It was a disappointing season as New York started the year with high expectations after acquiring slugger Dave Kingman, veteran Joe Torre & outfielder Del Unser to supply more offense to a team with a fine pitching staff.
Tonight the Mets sent George Stone (2-1) to the mound. Stone was returning from rotator cuff surgery & was one of the first pitchers to successfully come back after the procedure. In 1974 Stone went on the DL at the end of July, had surgery which usually meant the end of a career in those days. On June 13th, 1975 he made his return. This was his sixth start of the year.
His opponent on this night was the Astros Ken Forsch (3-7). Ken was the brother of pitcher Bob Forsch who spent eleven years with the Astros going 114 -113 with 50 saves & a 3.18 ERA.
In the top of the 1st inning, Houston's Wilbur Howard & Kevin Gross both singled. An error by Mike Phillips at short stop advanced the runners. Enos Cabell & Bob Watson brought grounded out in to force plays which allowed both runners to score giving the Astros a 2-0 lead.
Tonight the Mets sent George Stone (2-1) to the mound. Stone was returning from rotator cuff surgery & was one of the first pitchers to successfully come back after the procedure. In 1974 Stone went on the DL at the end of July, had surgery which usually meant the end of a career in those days. On June 13th, 1975 he made his return. This was his sixth start of the year.
His opponent on this night was the Astros Ken Forsch (3-7). Ken was the brother of pitcher Bob Forsch who spent eleven years with the Astros going 114 -113 with 50 saves & a 3.18 ERA.
In the top of the 1st inning, Houston's Wilbur Howard & Kevin Gross both singled. An error by Mike Phillips at short stop advanced the runners. Enos Cabell & Bob Watson brought grounded out in to force plays which allowed both runners to score giving the Astros a 2-0 lead.Joe Torre's First Double Play: In the bottom of the 1st inning Felix Millan singled, Torre followed up grounding out to the pitcher Ken Forsch who turned a 1-4-3 double play.
In the top the 2nd, Larry Milbourne singled to right field & Wilbur Howard's double brought him home for a 3-0 Houston lead.
In the bottom of the 2nd, Rusty Staub hit a solo HR, his 12th HR of the year.
In the bottom of the 3rd inning, with one out Del Unser & Felix Millan both singled, Joe Torre then bounced a ball to the short stop that Roger Metzger turned into a double play, Torre's second of the night.
Joe Torre's Record Fourth Double Play: In the bottom of the 8th inning, Del Unser singled for the second time, Felix Millan then collected his fourth hit of the night with a base hit into right field.
In the top the 2nd, Larry Milbourne singled to right field & Wilbur Howard's double brought him home for a 3-0 Houston lead.
In the bottom of the 2nd, Rusty Staub hit a solo HR, his 12th HR of the year.
In the Astros 3rd, Bob Watson & Cliff Johnson both singled, Roger Metzger hit a triple making it 5-1. Houston knocked out George Stone by the 3rd inning, knocking him around for five runs on eight hits.
In the top of the 4th, the Astros tacked on another run off reliever Ken Sanders, with two singles & an Enos Cable grounder allowing Wilbur Howard to score the sixth Houston run.
Joe Torre Grounds Into His Third Double Play: In the bottom of the 6th, Felix Millan collected his third hit of the game, with a single to right field. But he was once again quickly erased when Joe Torre grounded out to second baseman Larry Milbourne who threw to Metzger at second then threw to Bob Watson to complete the double play.
The three double plays that Torre had grounded into tied an MLB record at the time that twenty others players had done at least once.
Hitting Into Double Play Trivia: On September 25th, 1974, the previous year, the Mets Teddy Martinez joined the club setting a franchise record hitting into three double plays in a 6-3 loss to the Phillies.
In the bottom of the 7th, Dave Kingman added a solo HR, his 19th of the year, giving the Mets their second run.
Joe Torre's Record Fourth Double Play: In the bottom of the 8th inning, Del Unser singled for the second time, Felix Millan then collected his fourth hit of the night with a base hit into right field. Joe Torre came to bat & grounded to short stop Roger Metzger who threw to Larry Milbourne who stepped on second, then threw to Bob Watson at first, successfully turning the double play. Joe Torre set a new MLB record grounding into four double plays on the night.
Each time Torre came to bat, Mets second baseman Felix Millan had reached base ahead of him.
Quotes- Joe Torre: “I’d like to thank Felix Millan for making this all possible, I’ll just tell the kids they were all bullets”.