Remembering Mets History (1989) Frank Viola Outduels Orel Hershiser 1-0 in Historical Matchup

Monday August 28th, 1989: For the first time in MLB history, the two reigning Cy Young Award winners faced off against each other in a regular season matchup.

The New York Mets sent Frank Viola to the mound to face the reigning World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers & their ace Orel Hershiser.

In 1988, Frank Viola had been the A.L. Cy Young winner while pitching with the Minnesota Twins. In 1987 he had won the World Series MVP for World Champion Twins. 

On the July 31st, 1989, Viola came to New York at the trade deadline. It was a huge addition to the Mets staff that featured Dwight Gooden, David Cone, Sid Fernandez, Ron Darling & Bob Ojeda.

Frank Viola had gone 8-12 that year in Minnesota & was 1-3 entering this game on a personal three game losing streak with the Mets for an overall 9-15 season record. 

Orel Hershiser was the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner & the 1988 World Series MVP. The Los Angeles Dodgers had surprised everyone that year, first upsetting the Mets in the NLCS, then going on to beat the mighty Oakland A's in five games in the Fall Classic. 

In Game #1 Kirk Gibson came hobbling up to the plate as a pinch hitter & won the game with his famous walk-off HR.

At this point in time Davey Johnson's Mets were in third place (70-60) 3.5 games back of the Chicago Cubs. Tommy Lasorda's Dodgers had fallen to fifth place at 62-69. A crowd of 38,820 came to Dodger Stadium to witness this classic pitching matchup that was all it was billed to be.

In the top of the 1st inning, singles by Juan Samuel & Howard Johnson amounted to nothing, as Darryl Strawberry popped out for the second out, then Kevin McReynolds grounded out to end the inning. 

In the 2nd inning Frank Viola gave struck out Eddie Murray & Mike Marshall. Jeff Hamilton collected a base hit then Viola struck out Dave Anderson. 

In the top of the 3rd, Greg Jefferies singled through the third base hole. He advanced to second on Juan Samuel's ground out. Then Howard Johnson singled to center field, scoring Jefferies in what turned out to be the only run of the game.

Orel Hershiser retired the next ten Mets batters getting thru six innings down 1-0.

In the bottom of the 3rd, Mike Scioscia led off with a base hit & was sacrificed to second base. But Viola retired the next three batters to end the inning. Viola retired the next six batters getting thru four innings holding a 1-0 lead.

In the bottom of the 5th, Jeff Hamilton led off with a base hit into center field. But it was the last Dodgers hit of the game, as Frank Viola retired the last 15 batters of the game. 

In the top of the 7th, McReynolds led off with a base hit but was caught stealing. Keith Hernandez drew a walk in that at bat, but Hershiser got Barry Lyons & Kevin Elster to pop up. 

In the top of the 8th, Frank Viola & Gregg Jefferies led off with base hits. Hershiser picked off Viola leaning off second base. Jefferies did steal second, but the inning ended when Hershiser struck out Howard Johnson. 

The Mets did scatter eight hits off Hershiser but just the one run in his eight innings of work. Orel struck out four & walked one.

Frank Viola had his best outing of the 1989 season. He pitched the complete game shutout, allowing just three hits while striking out five & walking no one.

Trivia: The Long Island native, Frank Viola would go 5-5 for the Mets that year with a 3.38 ERA. The next season he would win twenty games (20-12) leading the NL in starts (35) & innings pitched (249). Viola spent three seasons with the Mets (1989-1991) going 38-32 with a 3.31 ERA.