Remembering Mets History: (1985) Strawberry Hits Three HRs At Wrigley Field As Mets Take Over First Place

Monday August 5th 1985: Davey Johnson's Mets (62-42) were one half game out of first place behind the St. Louis Cardinals. On this day a Cardinal loss & this Mets win led to the Mets taking over first place in the NL East.

Today the Mets were on the road as the went up against Jim Frey's fourth place Chicago Cubs (54-50). A crowd of 34, 167 filed into Wrigley Field to see the Cubs Derek Botelho (0-0) go up against New York's Ed Lynch (8-5).

This was to be one of Mets slugger; Darryl Strawberry's biggest days

Starting Lineups

	New York Mets				Chicago Cubs
1	Lenny Dykstra	CF		1	Bob Dernier	CF
2	Wally Backman	2B		2	Ryne Sandberg	2B
3	Keith Hernandez	1B		3	Gary Matthews	LF
4	Gary Carter	C		4	Keith Moreland	RF
5	Darryl Strawberry	RF		5	Richie Hebner	1B
6	Danny Heep	LF		6	Jody Davis	C
7	Howard Johnson	3B		7	Ron Cey	3B
8	Rafael Santana	SS		8	Larry Bowa	SS
9	Ed Lynch	P		9	Derek Botelho	P

The winds of Chicago were blowing in the right direction for Straw on this day, as he would belt three HRs. Straw began his big day in the 1st inning. With two outs, Keith Hernandez & Gary Carter both walked. Straw then hit his first of the day, a three run shot, his 13th of the year.

In the 3rd, Strawberry hit a solo HR, also off of starter, Botelho making it 4-0 Mets. In the 5th Straw was walked intentionally, he & Wally Backman scored on a Danny Heep double making it 6-0 Mets.

In the top of the 7th, with New York up 6-1, Straw connected for another solo HR, this one off of reliever, Ron Meredith. It was his 15th HR of the year.

Straw would have four hits on the day, three of them HRs, as he drove in five of the seven Mets runs, in the 7-2 Mets win. Eddie Lynch got the win getting to 9-5 on the year.

At this point the Mets were in the midst of a nine game win streak, holding on to first place. But the St. Louis Cardinals kept pace remaining just one back.