Remembering Mets History (1989) Kevin McReynolds Hits For the Cycle

 Tuesday, August 1st, 1989: That season, the NL East was a tough division. At the end of July, the Montreal Expos were on top leading the Chicago Cubs by two games. The St. Louis Cardinals were in third place, five games back with New York Mets right behind them seven games back. 

At the trade deadline, the Mets sent the popular Mookie Wilson to Toronto. 

On the bright side they acquired Frank Viola from the Minnesota Twins in a blockbuster deal in exchange for Rick Aguilera, Kevin Tapani & David West.

1989 would be the last seasons in New York for aging veterans Keith Hernandez & Gary Carter as well.

On this night game the two division rivals went at it, as Davey Johnson's Mets (54-50) went up against Whitey Herzog's Cards (54-48) at Busch Stadium in St. Louis in front of 40,444 fans. The Mets Sid Fernandez (8-3) went up against Scott Terry (7-9).

In the top of the 2nd inning, Kevin McReynolds le off with a double to left field, his 20th two bagger of the season. After Dave Magadan grounded out advancing McReynold's, Barry Lyons' doubled bringing him in with the Mets first run.

In the top of the 6th inning, Juan Samiel doubled to left field, Howard Johnson singled to bring him in with his 67th RBI for the Mets second run. After Darryl Strawberry flew out, Kevin McReynolds homered to left center field, making it a 4-0 Mets lead. It was McReynolds second hit of the day as well as his tenth HR of the year.

In the top of the 8th, with Frank DiPino now pitching for the Cards, Howard Johnson led off, singled & stole second. Darryl Strawberry reached on an error by Milt Thompson in centerfield. Dan Quisenberry was brought into pitch. 

Now with two me on Kevin McReynolds dropped a base hit into center field for his third hit of the game. The base hit scored HoJo but Kevin was not credited with an RBI as the run was unearned as a result of Thompson's error. 

Dave Magadan followed with an RBI double double, scoring Strawberry & McReynolds making it a 7-0 Met lead, although Magadan was thrown out at third base trying to stretch it to a triple. 

In the top of the 9th, with Ricky Horton now pitching for St. Louis, Juan Samuel & Howard Johnson both reached with base hits. Darryl Strawberry then walked to load up the bases. 

Kevin McReynolds came up needing the triple for the cycle, usually the hardest hit to get in that feat. Sure enough, McReynolds delivered as he hit a fly ball to right field that bounced past Tom Brunansky going all the way to the wall. McReynolds reached safely with a triple clearing the bases having himself a multi- six RBI game while hitting for the cycle.

Mets Cycle Trivia: McReynolds became the fifth Mets player to hit for the cycle & the first to have done it in four years. In 1985 Keith Hernandez was the last Met to hit for a cycle. The six RBIs were a season high for McReynolds, he would match that total again in 1990 with the Mets  in a game against the San Francisco Giants.

McReynolds Trivia: The quiet McReynolds did not talk to the press after the game & showed no emotion after completing the cycle. The New York press had always been on him because he did not speak to the media often & was a low key guy who didn't make headline. At times when things went bad, they would use him as the example which led him to feel like a scapegoat for the teams problems. But beyond the media stupidity, McReynolds was a solid player & one of the best on those teams.

Dave Magadan followed with a ground out scoring McReynolds which also gave him four runs scored as well. On the night, he collected Four hits wit a HR, four runs scored & six RBIs.

On the mound, Sid Fernandez went the distance for the Mets, pitching a four hit shut out, striking out just one & walking two. It was one of his two shut outs & six complete games that year.

Sid went to 9-3 on the yea with a 2.75 ERA. Davey Johnson commented that Fernandez "pretty much had no fastball" on the day. 

In 1989 El Sid would lead the NL in winning % (.737) while going 14-5 with a 2.83 ERA.