Remembering Mets History (1969) Rookie Wayne Garrett Drives In Four Runs

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Wednesday July 2nd 1969: Gil Hodges New York Mets (41-34)  had just come off a double header loss the day before to the reigning World Champion St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium. They were looking to bounce back & in this game they sent Jerry Koosman (5-5) to the mound to face off against the Cards, Dave Giusti (3-7). 


Starting Lineups
With the game scoreless in the 4th inning, Art Shamsky hit a one out triple. Wayne Garrett followed with a double, scoring Shamsky. Giusti threw a past ball & Garrett went to third. Donn Clendenon then came through with a base hit making it 2-0.
In the 6th, Ken Boswell singled & stole second. With two outs, Wayne Garrett singled bringing in Boswell making it 3-0 Mets. In the top of the 8th, Cleon Jones reached on an error by Joe Torre, he eventually advanced to third & scored on Wayne Garretts single.
In the bottom of the 8th, Koosman issued three straight walks, leading to his exit. Gil Hodges brought in Ron Taylor who served up a grand slam HR to Vic Davalillo, tying up the game at four. 


The bullpens both rolled along to the 14th inning. After Taylor, the Mets brought in Tug McGraw, who was a bit shaky but held the Cards down. Tug pitched six scoreless innings, striking out eight although he allowed seven hits & four walks.

The Cards would go through six pitchers in the game & the Mets got to reliever Ron Willis.

In the top of the 14th inning, Ron Willis retired the first two batters he faced. Then Tommie Agee singles & stole second. He scored on Ken Boswell's base hit, which was to be the games winning run. Willis then got wild, he hit Cleon Jones with a pitch & walked Rod Gaspar. Next up was the hitting star of the day- Wayne Garrett.

This time Garrett took advantage of Willis' wildness, drawing a walk, bringing in an insurance run. On the day the rookie, Garrett would have four hits with a walk, a run scored & a season high four RBIs. The young 21 year old rookie was now batting .274 in a platoon role at third base with Ed Charles.

Trivia: Although Garrett would have many games where he would drive in three runs in his career, he would not have another four RBI day until May 1976, his last season as a Met.

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