Friday August 24th, 1973: Although the Mets were coming off a loss, they had taken two of three from the Los Angeles Dodgers, both were walk off wins. They came into tonight eleven games below .500 at 57-68 but were just 6.5 games out of first place.Tonight, Yogi Berra's Mets hosted Charlie Fox's third place San Francisco Giants (70-55) in front of 35,361 at Shea Stadium. The Giants were just 15 years removed from New York & were still drawing big crowds when they came town. The Giants were eight games behind the first place Dodgers.
Tonight's pitching matchup was future Hall of Famer Juan Marichal (10-9) for the Giants & Jerry Koosman (9-14) for the Mets.
Trivia: "The Dominican Dandy" Juan Marichal's 16-year career was winding down as this would be his final season in San Francisco. In 16 seasons with the Giants he was 238-140. In the off season his contract would be purchased by the Boston Red Sox where he would go 5-1.
Jerry Koosman was coming off a big win over the Reds where he allowed just an earned run in a 2-1 win over Ross Grimsley. But prior to that Koosman had lost five straight decisions & eight of his last nine.
But Koosman would certainly turn things around as he would win six of his last seven decisions while setting a Mets record that would stand for 39 years pitching 32.2 consecutive scoreless innings.
In the top of the 1st Koosman had easy 1-2-3 inning. In the top of the 2nd, Koosman gave up a pair of hits but got out of the inning.
In the top of the 4th, Koosman allowed a single to Bobby Bonds then picked him off first base. Willie McCovey then drew a walk & Gary Maddox doubled. Chris Speier was intentionally walked to load the bases. Koosman then got Mike Phillips to pop up for the second out & Dave Radar to line out to Cleon Jones in left field to end the inning
In the top of the 7th, Koosman had retired six straight, when Mike Phillips led off with a base hit but was caught stealing as Jerry Grote threw him out at second. Koosman then retired the next five batters in a row to get to the 9th inning.
In the top of the 9th, Willie McCovey led off with a base hit then was forced at second on a Gary Maddox ground out. Maddox attempted a steal of second but was thrown out by Jerry Grote. On the night, the Mets defense had Jerry Grote throw out both runners trying to steal & Koosman pick off Bobby Bonds.
Juan Marichal held the Mets scoreless thru the first nine innings. The Mets had left two men on base in the 4th & 5th innings. In the bottom of the 8th, with two men on & one out, Cleon Jones lined out to Tito Fuentes at second base for an inning ending double play.
In the top of the 10th inning, Dave Rader led off with a walk & was advanced on a sac bunt. But Koosman retired the next two batters to end the inning.
In the bottom of the 10th inning Juan Marichal came on to pitch another inning. Mets manager Yogi Berra sent Ken Boswell in to pinch hit.
The reliable Boswell delivered with a base hit to right field. Willie Mays then sacrificed him over to second base. Felix Millan then singled to right field, scoring Boswell with the games walk off winning run. Trivia: In the 1973 pennant season, Millan led the team with 185 hits & a .290 batting average. His 155 singles were second most in the NL.
For Jerry Koosman, he had now pitched 14.2 consecutive scoreless innings on his way to the 32.2 franchise record. Kooz earned his tenth win of the season reaching double figures in wins for the fifth time in six years.
