Remembering Mets History (1984) Keith Hernandez's Has a Multi-Four RBI Game & Walk Off Hit Against His Old Team

Tuesday July 24th, 1984: In 1984 there was so much excitement around the Shea Stadium it was truly magical. Davey Johnson's Mets were twenty games over .500 (57-37) riding high in first place with a 2.5 game lead over the Chicago Cubs.

The previous night, the Mets won the game on a 12th inning walk off base hit from Wally Backman off reliever, former Met Neil Allen.  On this night they took on Whitey Herzog's St. Louis Cardinals (47-52) as the rivalry between the two teams was just starting to heat up. 

Tonight, that Keith Hernandez one of the Mets stars & most popular players would get some revenge on his old team.

In 1983, the former NL MVP Hernandez had come over to New York in a trade with the Cardinals.  Manager Whitey Herzog clashed with Keith's personality. He felt Keith wasn't giving it 100% on the field & suspected he was using cocaine. Keith had won five straight Gold Gloves, the 1979 batting title & co NL MVP Award, as well as was the hitting star of Game #7 of the 1982 World Series. 

When Keith came to the Mets, he had something to prove, he gave it 110% everyday & the 1980's Mets / Cardinals began.

In the home 3rd, Rafael Santana singled to right field &advanced to second on George Hendricks's throwing error.  Mets pitcher Bruce Berenyi attempted a bunt then another Cardinal error, this time a throwing error by catcher Junior Ortiz helped Santana advance to third as Berenyi got to second base. 

Kelvin Chapman then doubled, scoring Santana with the Mets first run. Keith Hernandez hit a sac fly to left field scoring Berenyi with the Mets second run & Keith's first RBI of the day. George Foster followed with a single bringing in Chapman with the Mets third run & a 3-0 lead. 

In the top of the 4th, St. Louis' Terry Pendelton led off with a base hit. George Hendrick doubled made up for his error with a double bringing home Pendleton. Hendrick advanced to third on a ground out, then Bruce Berenyi had control issues himself, throwing a wild pitch allowing Hendrick to score the Cards second run. Then David Green hit a two run HR putting his team up 4-3.

David Green Trivia: From 1981 - 1985 Green not one of the Cardinal household names but he was another solid speedy reserve player for St. Louis, who stole 34 bases & drove in 69 runs in 1983. In 1984 he hit 15 HRs & drove in 65 runs.

In the Mets 4th inning, Rafael Santana doubled off Dave Lapoint & the Met pitcher Bruce Berenyi collected his second hit of the game with an RBI single scoring Rafael to tie it back up at four.

Berenyi went 2-2 with a sacrifice & an RBI in the game. On the season he hit .243 (9-37) with three RBIs.

Mookie Wilson reached on the fourth Cardinal error of the game, as veteran Chris Speir booted a ball at short. Kelvin Chapman, who also had two hits on the night, then drove in his second run of the game with a base hit to left field to give the Mets a 5-4 lead. 

Dave LaPoint was finished after giving up seven runs in 3.1 innings as manager Whitey Herzog brought in pitcher Dave Rucker.

Keith Hernandez then collected his first hit & second RBI of the night, bringing in Mookie making it a 6-4 Mets lead. George Foster added the Mets third straight single scoring Chapman to make it 7-4.  In the inning, the Mets sent nine men to the plate scoring four runs, collecting five hits, four of them singles.

Berenyi held the lead, keeping down the Cards until the 7th, inning. With one out he walked Bill Lyons & then surrendered a two out triple to Andy Van Slyke, narrowing the lead to 7-5. 

Mets manager Davey Johnson removed Berenyi after 6.2 innings as he allowed six runs on six hits, two walks with four strike outs & brought in right hander, Doug Sisk. 

But Sisk was wild, as he issued three straight walks, the walk to catcher Darrel Porter brought in Andy Van Slyke making it a one run 7-6 game. 

Trivia: The Mets fans got on Sisk as heard the boos. Although Sisk was a good reliever as the team got better with a more solid bullpen, Sisk often became a target of the Shea boo-birds in the mid-eighties.

In the top of the 8th, Mets reliever Tom Gorman took over; after retiring the first two batters, pinch hitter Art Howe singled & Tito Landrum hit a two-run putting the Cards ahead 8-7.

In the bottom of the 8th, reliever Dave Von Ohlen gave up a single to short time Met, pinch hitter Jerry Martin. 

Jerry Martin Trivia: Martin was a long time Phillie (1974-1978) then moved on to the Cubs, Giants & Royals before ending his career with the '84 Mets. That year he batted .154 with 3 HRs & five RBIs in 51 games.

A wild pitch moved Martin over to second base, then Keith Hernadez collected his second hit 0f the game as he singled scoring Martin, tying up the game at eight. The Shea fans went wild as Keith had his third RBI of the game.

The game went to extra innings; Mets pitcher Brent Gaff pitched two scoreless innings for the Mets. In the top of the 10th, with two on & one out he hit ground ball outs from Tito Landrum & Andy Van Slyke to get out of the jam.

In the bottom of the 10th, Neil Allen, the man who the Mets traded to get Keith Hernandez was on the mound for St. Louis. At the time Allen was one of the NL's better relievers. Allen got the first two outs as Rafael Santana popped out & Danny Heep grounded to first base. 

Mookie Wilson then singled & stole his 29th base of the season getting into scoring position. Mookie would swipe a team best 46 bases on the season

Wally Backman then drew a walk setting the stage for Keith Hernandez.

Keith came thru once again as he singled off Allen, bringing in Mookie Wilson with the walk off game winning run as the Mets won it 9-8.

Keith Trivia: For Hernandez he had a season high multi-four RBI game, he would have two on the season. He collected three hits & had 12 or more games with three of more hits in the 1984 season. Hernandez led the team, as well as the league in game winning RBIs that season, as it was an official stat at that time.

 The Mets extended their lead to 3.5 games ahead of the Cubs & 12.5 over fifth place St. Louis.