Remembering Mets History (1969) Tommie Agee's Walk Off HR - Beats Giants 1-0 In a 14 Inning Shutout

Tuesday August 19th, 1969: The Summer pennant race was heating up in New York, as Gil Hodges Mets (67-51) were riding a four-game win streak that spanned two double header sweeps over the Woodstock weekend. 

On this night 48,968 paid came to Shea Stadium, as the former New York Giants (64-56) now the San Francisco Giants came to town. 

The Giants, led by Clyde King, were just 2.5 games out of first tied for second with the Astros & Braves, all trailing the first place Dodgers & Reds, who were tied at the top. 

The Mets sent young Gary Gentry to the mound; Gentry had not had credit for a win in over a month (July 15th). In that time, he was 0-3 with three no decisions. He faced off against Hall of Famer, Juan Marichal, a Mets nemesis.



This game was all about pitching. The Mets Gary Gentry pitched ten innings, allowing no runs on just four hits & four walks, while striking out five.

In the 2nd inning, with two outs Gentry walked Bobby Etheridge. He then gave up a base hit to Bob Barton but then struck out Hal Lanier to end the inning. 

In the top of the 5th, Hal Lanier singled & advanced on Juan Marichal's sac bunt. With two men on with two outs, Gentry got former Met, Ron Hunt to ground out to end the threat.

Lanier got his second hit in the 7th inning but was left stranded. Gentry retired 13 of 14 batters going to the 9th inning, keeping the Giants off the board.

In the top of the 9th inning, Willie McCovey led off with a walk. With two outs (future Met) Dave Marshall came in to pinch hit & was intentionally walked. 

Another pinch hitter, Jim Davenport was sent up to hit for Lanier, he grounded out to Gentry to end the inning. The fans gave Gentry a big ovation on his way to the dugout.

He came back out in the 10th inning, after giving up a lead off base hit to the pitcher Marichal, he retired the next three batters. Gentry pitched ten shutout innings, allowing just four hits while striking out five & walking four. 

Tug McGraw came on to pitch in the 11th inning. He got Willie McCovey to start the inning grounding out to Ed Kranepool. McGraw then gave up a single to Bob Burba but he was thrown out at second by Cleon Jones, trying to stretch it into a double. McGraw then walked Jack Hiatt but retired Don Mason to end the 11th. 

Tug rolled through the next three innings, retiring nine straight batters. In four innings, he allowed just one hit & one walk with no runs & no Ks.

On the other side of the diamond, Juan Marichal was also outstanding. Marichal had always been tough on the Mets. 

Tonight, he shut them out for 13 innings, as he pitched into the 14th inning, scattering six hits, striking out 13 Mets, walking just one. 

In the bottom of the 14th Rod Gaspar led off grounding out to the pitcher. Nest, the Mets leading HR hitter Tommie Agee connected for his 21st of the year. Agee's walk off gave the Mets an exciting 1-0 win that just delighted the Shea Faithful.

Marichal took his ninth loss of the year, going to 14-9 with a 2.30 ERA. Tug McGraw earned his sixth win (6-2) while posting a 2.69 ERA.

Comments

holmer said…
Cleon Jones had a great game that day while Agee was taking a o'fer with a number of strikeouts. Cleon made a great catch robbing McCovey of a home run (Hodges played 4 men in the outfield with McCovey up) and while Jones and Agee were running off of the field Agee said something to Jones like "you keep making plays and I'll think of something." Obviously Agee did with his game winning homer.
holmer said…
Cleon had a great day that day. He stole a couple fo bases, had 2 or 3 hits, and robbed McCovey of a home run while Agee was taking an o'fer with a number of strikeouts. When Cleon robbed McCovey of the home run (Hodges played 4 outfielders against McCovey) Agee told Cleon something like "you keep playing and making catches and I'll think of something." Agee obviously did and hot the game winning homer.

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