Both clubs starting pitchers were off to good starts, The Mets Tom Seaver & the Reds Fred Norman were both 3-0 up to this point.
Fred Norman lost his control in the 2nd inning, issuing four walks which led to two Mets runs. The Reds got a run back in the 3rd, as Seaver himself walked two & Pete Rose singled in Cesar Geronimo.
In the home 3rd inning, Joe Torre led off with a single. Then Dave Kingman hit a two run HR, putting the Mets ahead for good on the day.
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Friday May 7th 1976: Tonight the first place Mets hosted John McNamara's third place San Diego Padres, as the National League's two best pitchers of 1976 faced off against each other. The Mets Jerry Koosman went up against the Padres, Randy Jones, who would narrowly beat out Koos for that years Cy Young Award.
In the May 7th, Friday night game, it was Dave Kingman he was to be the star. In the 1st inning he wasted no time, as he blasted a two run HR off Jones, scoring Joe Torre with the first two runs of the game. In the 4th, Koosman helped out his own cause with an RBI single to go up 3-2. The Padres managed two runs off Koosman, & the score was 3-2 into the 8th inning.
Then Padre relief pitcher; Mike Dupree, allowed a lead off double to Felix Millan & a single to Joe Torre. Kingman then followed with a three run blast to left center field, putting the Mets ahead 5-4.
Wednesday May 12th 1976: Five days later the Mets were on the road to play the Braves in Atlanta. The Mets were still in first place at 19-11 & Dave Bristols Braves, were in fifth place at 9-19.
The Braves pitcher, Andy Messersmith, who was one of the games top pitchers in the early to mid seventies, and had also became one of the first free agents, who had signed with Atlanta but was struggling at 0-4. The Mets once again had Jerry Koosman on the mound.
In the top of the 1st, Kingman started it off with a solo HR. In the Mets 4th, Joe Torre & Ron Hodges got aboard & a Roy Staiger single made it 3-0. Mike Phillips added an RBI hit & Del Unser a sac Fly to make it 4-0 Mets.
Kingman had a big four hit evening & drove in three runs, already giving him 33 RBIs for the season. Up to that point in Mets history, the team had never had a slugger like Kingman, putting up such big HR numbers.
The Mets would win the game 6-3, as Koosman earned his fourth win (4-1) & Skip Lockwood earned the save, his fifth.
In the first 12 days of May 1976, in a span of ten games, Dave Kingman had five HRs with 13 RBIs while collecting 13 hits.