Remembering Mets History: (1974) Jon Matlack Tosses His Second Career One Hitter

Saturday June 29th 1974: A crowd of 37,317 came to Shea Stadium to see Manager Yogi Berra's struggling last place, but still reigning NL Champion Mets (30-42) host Red Scoendienst first place St. Louis Cardinals (38-34).

The Cards John Curtis (4-7) took on The Mets Jon Matlack (5-5). 

In the 1st inning, Matlack allowed a walk, but struck out all three of the batters for outs. In the home 1st, Wayne Garrett led off with a base hit, then Cleon Jones blasted his sixth HR of the year, a two run HR giving the Mets a 2-0 lead.

In the 3rd inning, Matlack allowed a base hit to of all people, the pitcher John Curtis. It was a terrible break, since it was the only hit Matlack would allow the rest of the way. In fact he would allow just one more base runner the rest of the way, a 6th inning walk to pinch hitter Tom Heintzelman. 

Matlack walked three in the one hitter, while he struck out seven.

Trivia: This was the 11th one hitter in Mets history at that time, Matlack had pitched the last Mets one hitter in July of 1973.

The win was his sixth on the year lowering his ERA to 2.47. Matlack led the league in shut outs with seven, he went 13-15 on the year with 195 strike outs (4th in the NL) & a 2.41 ERA (3rd best in the NL), taking a lot of hard luck losses.

The rest of the Mets scoring came in the 5th & 7th innings. In the 5th, Wayne Garrett had hit a lead off solo HR, giving the Mets a 3-0 lead. Cleon Jones added an RBI double in the 7th, scoring Garrett who had two hits & three runs scored on the day. 

The 1974 Mets disappointed, finishing up in fifth place below .500  (71-91) a terrible follow up after the Pennant season of '73.