Remembering Mets History (1999): Al Leiter Strike Out A Career High 15

Sunday, August 1st 1999: Bobby Valentines Mets (66-43) were boasting on the leagues best records & were trailing the Atlanta Braves by just a half game on this day, as they visited Wrigley Field to play Jim Riggleman's Cubs (48-54).

A Wrigley Field crowd of 39,222 filled the Friendly Confines to watch Kyle Farnsworth take on the Mets Al Leiter.

The 13 inning affair would last four hours & twenty five minutes, seeing pitchers strike out 28 batters with both teams collecting ten hits each.

 

Starting Lineups

Mets

1	Rickey Henderson	LF
2	Edgardo Alfonzo	2B
3	John Olerud	1B
4	Robin Ventura	3B
5	Darryl Hamilton	CF
6	Roger Cedeno	RF
7	Todd Pratt	C
8	Rey Ordonez	SS
9	Al Leiter	P

Cubs

1	Mickey Morandini	2B
2	Manny Alexander	SS
3	Mark Grace	1B
4	Sammy Sosa	CF
5	Glenallen Hill	RF
6	Henry Rodriguez	LF
7	Gary Gaetti	3B
8	Benito Santiago	C
9	Kyle Farnsworth	P

Al Leiter would strike out two batters in the 1st inning & again in the 3rd inning.  He struck out the side in both the 2nd & 4th innings. In the 5th he struck out two more Cubs, but ran into trouble, giving up runs on RBI singles to Manny Alexander & Mark Grace.

In the 6th the Mets came back, Rey Ordonez bunted to reach base to start out the inning. Al Leiter sacrificed him over to second. Rickey Henderson & Edgardo Alfonzo then both walked to load them up. The Mets leading hitter, John Olerud doubled to right field tying the game. Daryl Hamilton then singled to make it 3-2 Mets.

Leiter got another strike out in the 6th inning. In the 7th he notched two more K's, reaching a personal career high 15 strike outs in a game. 

As for the Cubs, strike out victims, Mickey Morandini & Glenallen Hill, both went down three times each on the day. Manny Alexander was second in Ks, going down twice on strikes. 

This was the only game Leiter, would have a double digit strike out game all year. He would notch 162 strike outs in the 1999 Mets Wild Card season.

The Cubs tied it in the 9th, when Henry Rodriguez homered off Armando Benitez.

In the 10th, Rickey Henderson walked, stole second & advanced to third on an error. An Edgardo Alfonzo sac fly put New York ahead. But the Cubs came back, as Benitez walked the first two men in the home 10th.

He was yanked & Billy Taylor  came in to pitch. The Cubs scored a run on John Olerud's fielding error to tie it. Dennis Cook got Jose Nieves to ground out in a double play to kill the inning.

In a wacky 13th, Roger Cedeno doubled, but Todd Pratt lined out & Rey Ordonez popped out. Benny Agbayani was intentionally walked to face the pitcher Pat Mahomes.

With a depleted bench Mahomes batted. He came through with a single up the middle to bring in what was the winning run. Mahomes closed out the game in the bottom frame, Mets won it 6-4.