Remembering Mets History (1971) Gary Gentry Throws His Second Career One Hit Shutout
Pirates Trivia: The Pirates had won the NL East the previous year losing to the Reds in the NLCS. This year the Bucs would go on to win the World Series beating the Baltimore Orioles in seven games. Hall of Famers Roberto Clemente & Willie Stargell were among their top players.
Trivia: Entering the game Willie Stargell had 13 RBIs more than the entire Mets team, who had only scored 12 runs thru their first seven games.
In the first game of this twin-bill, the Mets sent 24-year-old Gary Gentry (0-2) to the mound to face the Pirates Luke Walker (1-0).
Gentry Trivia: Gary Gentry was another fine young pitcher for the Mets, in the 1969 Championship season, Gentry was a rookie going 13-12 with a 3.43 ERA. He was the winning pitcher the night the Mets clinched the NL East & was the winning pitcher of World Series Game #3.
A big crowd of 51,095 came to Shea on a cool windy day where gusts up to 40 mph were reported.
In the top of the 1st, Gary Gentry started out the game getting Dave Cash to line out to Bob Aspromonte at third base. He then got two ground outs to end the inning.
In the top of the 1st, Gary Gentry started out the game getting Dave Cash to line out to Bob Aspromonte at third base. He then got two ground outs to end the inning. In the top of the 2nd inning he started out striking out Hall of Fame slugger Willie Stargell then retired Al Oliver & Bob Robertson.
In the top of the 3rd, Gentry's fastball lit up, as he struck out the side, getting catcher Manny Sanguillen looking, then Jackie Hernandez & the pitcher Luke Walker swinging.
In the bottom of the inning the Mets gave Gary a bit of support. First Jerry Grote drew a one out walk. After Gentry struck out, Tommie Agee & Bud Harrelson both singled to load the bases. Pirate pitcher Luke Walker then walked Cleon Jones to force in a run.
In the top of the 4th, Gentry retired the side in order recording the first 12 outs in a row. In the top of the 5th, Willie Stargell flew out to Tommie Agee for the first out.
In the top of the 6th inning, Gentry recorded the first out then walked Ritchie Hebner, his third walk of the game. Next Roberto Clemente tripled to deep center field scoring Hebner. It was the first Pirate hit of the game & it would be their only hit of the game. Gentry would not allow another base runner as he retired the next 11 Pirates in a row.
Willie Stargell then hit a fly ball to Cleon Jones in left, as Clemente tagged up Jones' throw went wide of the plate with the Pirates taking a 2-1 lead. Gentry who had been know to have some temper issues in the past, threw his glove in the air out of frustration.Quotes- Gary Gentry: "I was just disgusted, here they scored two runs with only one hit & we haven't been scoring an abundance of runs"
Quotes- Gil Hodges: "I feel he's been much better this year. It's perfectly all right to flare up once in a while to get it out of your system".
In the home 6th, Bud Harrelson drew a leadoff walk. Cleon Jones then connected with a two run HR putting the Mets back in front 3-2. It was Cleon's second HR of the season.
In the top of the 7th, Gentry retired the side in order, striking out Manny Sanguillen for his sixth K of the day. In the top of the 8th, he retired pinch hitter Vic Davalillo & Dave Cash on ground balls to Bud Harrelson at short. Then Richie Hebner flew out to Ken Singleton in right.
In the top of the 7th, Gentry retired the side in order, striking out Manny Sanguillen for his sixth K of the day. In the top of the 8th, he retired pinch hitter Vic Davalillo & Dave Cash on ground balls to Bud Harrelson at short. Then Richie Hebner flew out to Ken Singleton in right.In the bottom of the 8th, Tommie Agee greeted new Pirate pitcher Nellie Briles with a HR to lead off the inning, giving the Mets a 4-2 lead. Agee went 2-4 hitting his first HR of the season collecting his second RBI.
Cleon Jones then singled with his second hit of the game. He was caught leading to far off first base but Nelson Briles threw wildly trying to pick him off allowing Cleon to advance to third base.
Offensively Cleon Jones made up for his bad throw, as he went 2-3 with a walk, a HR, three RBIs & two runs scored. Jones would have 15 muti-RBI games on the year.
Aspromonte. But Aspro added an RBI single into centerfield to top off the 5-2 scoring.
In the top of the 9th, Gary Gentry got Roberto Clemente to ground out to second base for the first out. Willie Stargell & Al Oliver then both then popped up to short stop Bud Harrelson to end the game, completing Gentry's one hit complete game victory.
Mets One Hitters: This was the second complete game one hitter for Gary Gentry. He & Jon Matlack have thrown two each, tied for third most in franchise history behind Tom Seaver (5) & David Cone (3).
It was the seventh one hitter thrown by a Mets pitcher in franchise history up to that point. One year ago to the day Nolan Ryan had thrown a one hitter against the Phillies. On May 13th 1970, Gary Gentry had tossed the previous Mets complete game one hitter & later that year, Tom Seaver would throw the next Mets one hitter .
In the game, Gary Gentry allowed two runs on one hit while striking out six & walking three earning his first win of the year (1-2). He would go 12-11 on the season, second on the staff to Tom Seaver in wins.
The Pirates would win the second game 2-1 behind Bob Johnson's complete game win. The two teams split the series & that year the Pirates would win the season matchups ten games to eight.