Remembering Mets History (1994) John Franco Sets All Time Save Mark For Lefties
In less than two months, on August 12th 1994, an MLB baseball strike would start & go thru the end of the season. For the first time since 1904 no post season would be played. The strike lasted 232 days, ending on April 2nd, 1995.
In 1994, the Mets (55-58) would finish third in the NL East to a good Montreal Expos team that posted the best record in baseball. The Braves (68-46) would finish second.
In the bottom of the 1st, Roberto Kelly & Jeff Blauser hit back to back HRs off Pete Smith to give Atlanta a 2-0 lead.
In the top of the 8th, Mauro Gozzo pitched a scoreless inning creating the save opportunity for John Franco. At the time John Franco was tied with Dave Righetti with 252 saves, the most among left handed relievers.
Franco would go on to save another 171 games thru the 2004 season. He remains the all time left handed save leader. Overall he is seventh all time in saves.
A large Georgia crowd of 47,907 were on hand to see the Mets Pete Smith (3-7) go up against Greg Maddux (10-2) who was in a stretch where he won four straight Cy Young Awards.
In the top of the 2nd, Jeff Kent started the inning with a double. With two outs, Ryan Thompson drove a single into centerfield, scoring Kent cutting the Braves lead to a run 2-1.
Pete Smith would not allow another hit until the 7th inning, issuing two walks along the way. Greg Maddux retired 15 batters in a row getting to the 8th inning.
In the top of the 8th, Todd Hundley & Ryan Thompson started the inning with base hits. Shawn Hare came up to pinch hit & delivered with an RBI single scoring Hundley to tie the game.
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| Shawn Hare |
Shawn Hare Trivia: Hare would play in just 22 games with the Mets, all that season. He would collect nine hits in forty at bats.
Next the Mets Fernando Vina attempted a sac bunt & reached safely on an error by the pitcher Greg Maddux who wildly to Fred McGriff at first abse.
Next the Mets Fernando Vina attempted a sac bunt & reached safely on an error by the pitcher Greg Maddux who wildly to Fred McGriff at first abse.
On the play both Ryan Thompson & Shawn Hare scored putting the Mets up 4-2. With Vina now on third, Jose Vizcaiano hit a sac fly to riht field making it a 5-2 Mets lead.
In the bottom of the 9th, Javey Lopez lined out to Jose Vizcaino at short for the first out. Bill Pecota then popped up to Fernando Vina in left field. Mark Lemke then flew out to Joe Orsulak in right field for the last out to end the game.
John Franco Trivia: For John Franco, it was his 253rd save of his career placing him first all time among left handed pitchers.
Franco would go on to save another 171 games thru the 2004 season. He remains the all time left handed save leader. Overall he is seventh all time in saves. Franco spent 14 years with the Mets (1990-2004) posting 276 saves & is first on the Mets all time list. In 2001 Franco became the third Mets team Captain in franchise history. (Keith Hernandez & Gary Carter). In 2012 he was elected to the clubs Hall of Fame.
The save on this night was his 17th of the season, he would go on to lead the NL with 30 saves that year.