Remembering Mets History (1964) Al Jackson Tosses a Two-Hit Shut Out
The Reds who were NL Pennant winners just three years earlier, would win 92 games & finish just one game behind the World Champion Cardinals this season.
The Reds featured the previous year's Rookie of the Year Pete Rose, Hall of famer Frank Robinson, slugger Deron Johnson who would lead the NL in RBIs (130) the following year & Leo Cardenas who led all major leaguers playing in 163 games.
In their third year of play, the 1964 Mets would finish last in the NL going 53-109 just two wins better than the previous year. Today's starting pitcher, Al Jackson for the Mets was 1-3 having pitched a shutout back on April 19th against the Pirates.
against the Reds Jim Maloney, a 15-game winner that season sandwiched between two twenty-win seasons. From 1963-1968 Malomt won 15 or more games each season.
In the bottom of the 4th, the Mets got a run when Ron Hunt led off with a double & Frank Thomas singled with two outs scoring Hunt to make it 1-0.
In the bottom of the 5th Deron Johnson led off with a single but was erased on a double play grounder to Ed Karanepool who threw to Charley Snith at short then received the throwback at first base.
In the bottom of the 6th, Jackson walked Johnny Edwards & the pitcher Jim Maloney singled with one out. But Jackson got Pete Rose to ground into an inning ending double play.
In the top of the 7th, Maloney walked Frank Thomas & Jesse Gonder then threw a wild pitch allowing pinch runner Dick Smith to score the Mets second run 2-0.
Jackson would not allow another hit to the Reds, the rest of the way. In the 7th he hit Deron Johnson with a pitch, then in the 8th Johnny Edwards reached on an error by Kranepool at first, but no other damage was done.
In the top of the 9th, Jim Hickman & Hot Rod Kanehl both singled & an Al Morn sac fly gave the Mets the 3-0 win.
Al Jackson pitched his second shutout of the year, a two-hitter walking two & striking out three. He would throw three that season. In six years with the Mets Jackson has ten shutouts tied for sixth place on the all-time Mets list with Ron Darling. I his career Jackson would throw two- two hit shut-outs & a one hit shutout for the Mets going 43-80 with a 4.26 ERA.
The win snapped a three-game losing streak & would be followed by another five-game losing streak. On May 7th, Al Jackson's victory would stop that losing stretch as well.