Remembering Mets History (1986) Mets Go on Another Eight Game Win Streak
Wednesday June 25th, 1986: A good crowd of 33,030 came out to this matinee at Shea as New
York hosted Buck Rogers second place Expos (38-30). Montreal had the second best winning % in the league behind the Mets.
The Mets sent Sid Fernandez (8-2) who was on a personal three game win streak, to the mound to face Andy McGaffigan (5-2).
They were the only runs, Sid Fernandez gave up in his six innings of work.
In the bottom of the 4th, Darryl Strawberry started a rally with a one out double. After George Foster grounded out, Kevin Mitchell doubled to left scoring Straw with the first Mets run. Ray Knight followed with a base hit scoring Mitchell to tie the game at two. Ed Hearn then drew a walk & pitcher Sid Fernandez helped his own cause with a base hit to left field putting the Mets ahead. Sid would drive in four runs that year.
Len Dykstra the eighth man to bat in the inning, added the Mets third double & fifth hit of the inning, scoring Ed Hearn making it 4-2. On the play Sid Fernandez was thrown out at third to end the inning.
In the 6th, George Foster added a solo HR, his 12th HR of the season. Roger McDowell pitched three scoreless innings finishing off the 5-2 win.
Ron Darling (8-2) went up against Dennis Eckersley (2-4). The future Hall of Famer was still a starting pitcher at this point in his career. He would move on to Oakland the following season & become one of the leagues top relievers.
In the top of the 3rd, with Rafael Santana & Wally Backman aboard Hernandez added an RBI single.The Cubs had put up a run in the 1st on a sac fly from Keith Moreland. In the home 3rd, veteran Davey Lopes led off with a solo HR tying up the game. The game stayed that way until the 9th inning.
In the top of the 9th, Gary Carter & Darryl Strawberry led off with base hits off Ray Fontenot. Manager Gene Michael brought in Lee Smith who quickly gave up a single to George Foster & a two run single to Ray Knight, putting New York ahead 4-2. Foster stole third base then scored on Rafael Santana's ground out.
Roger McDowell pitched a scoreless 9th inning earning the win to get to 7-0 with a 2.10 ERA on the season.
Trivia: The two pitchers were featured together two years earlier on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
In the top of the 4th, after three scoreless inning, Sutcliffe walked two Mets then Ray Knight's single made it 1-0 Mets.
In the bottom of the 4th, the Cubs got Gooden for three straight hits to start the inning. Dave Martinez singled then Ryne Sandberg & Keith Moreland hit back-to-back RBI doubles making it 2-1 Cubs. Jody Davis added an RBI single scoring Moreland making it 3-1.
In the top of the 5th, Len Dykstra led off with a walk but was caught stealing. Wally Backman singled, then with two outs Darryl Strawberry blasted his tenth HR of the year a two run shot for his 39th RBI, tying up the game at three.
In the top of the 6th, George Foster hit his 13th HR of the year to lead off the inning.
In the top of the 9th, Carter added a second RBI with another single also scoring Strawberry as the two enjoyed multi- hit multi-RBI games in the 7-4 Mets win.
Gooden went the distance for his seventh complete game of the year, his first in almost a month, as he went to 9-3 on the year.
Davey Johnson sent Bob Ojeda (8-2) to the mound to go up against John Tudor (6-3). The previous year Tudor who went 21-8, was 3-1 with a 0.93 against the Mets.
In the top of the 2nd, Tim Teufel doubled & scored when Rafael Santana singled up the middle. Santana had now hit safely in three straight games. In the 2nd, Mookie Wilson led off with a double then Kevin Mitchell reached on a single. Gary Carter & Ray Knight collected RBI singles making it a 3-0 Mets lead.
In the top of the 9th with Pat Perry now pitching, the Mets started a two out rally with five straight singles by Kevin Mitchell, Keith Hernandez, then Gary Carter, Len Dykstra & Ray Knight collected RBIs topping off the 7-0 win, the Mets fourth straight.
Knight Trivia: Ray hit safely in his last four games, collecting seven hits with two multi-hit games in the last days, raising his season average to .314. In the month of June Knight had eight muti-hit games.
Kid Trivia: Gary Carter had his safely in five straight games, with two straight multi-hit, multi-RBI games. Carter was leading the team with 54 RBIs.
In the top of the 2nd, with one out Darryl Strawberry hit his 18th double of the year, Danny Heep then doubled scoring Straw making it 1-0. In the top of the 3rd, Mookie Wilson led off with his fifth HR of the season making it 2-0.
In the bottom of the 5th, after four scoreless, Sid Fernandez gave up back to back doubles to Mike Heath & Tito Landrum for the only Cardinals run of the game.
Sid pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on nine hits striking out five & walking one, becoming the first Met on the staff to reach ten wins. Roger McDowell collected his seventh save to go along with his seven wins. The Mets win streak now reached five games.
Wednesday July 2nd, 1986: As the Mets went for the sweep in St. Louis, Davey Johnson sent Rick Aguilera (1-3) to the mound against 12 year veteran Bob Forsch (6-4).
Bob Forsch Trivia: Forsch pitched 15 seasons with St. Louis getting to three World Series & is fourth all time in franchise history with 163 wins.
In the top of the 1st, Wally Backman collected a one out double, then Keith Hernandez walked.
In the top of the 3rd, the Mets started out with back-to-back singles from Mookie Wilson & Wally Backman. With one out, Gary Carter collected his second RBI with a sac fly. Darryl Strawberry then doubled to right field bringing in Backman, then George Foster tripled scoring Straw giving New York a 4-1 lead.
In the bottom of the 5th, with two outs, St. Louis collected four straight singles with RBI hits from Willie McGee & Curt Ford getting within a run.
Davey Johnson brought in Randy Nieman but after a wild pitch & a walk, he brought in Doug Sisk.
Sisk who had previously been a target of Shea boo-birds the previous year, earned his second win (2-1) in the last three weeks & settled in to lower his ERA to 1.33.
In the bottom of the 9th, Jesse Orosco came on pitching a scoreless inning to earn his 12th save of the year, his first since June 11th. The Mets won their sixth straight & swept the Cards in St. Louis for the second time on the season.
A crowd of 48,839 came to see Ron Darling (8-2) take on Jim Deshaies (5-2). In this game Keith Hernandez got a rare day off as manager Davey Johnson he needed a rest against left handed pitching. Gary Carter made a rare start at first base. Carter would play nine games at first base that year & thirty there in his Mets career.
In the top of the 1st, Bill Doran led off with a double. Ty Gainey singled scoring Doran with the first run. Later Glen Davis singled thru the hole at third to score Gainey with the second Astro run.
In the top of the 4th, the Astros tacked on a run with a sac fly from Jose Cruz.
In the bottom of the 5th, after Deshaies struck out Darling & Mookie Wilson, he walked Kevin Mitchell. Then Darryl Strawberry hit a two run HR, his 11th HR of the year tying up the game.
The game remained tied into extra innings. Jim Deshaies allowed three runs on five hits striking out a season high 11 batters. Charlie Kerfeld came on giving Houston two scoreless innings. For New York, Ron Darling would pitch nine innings, giving up three runs on five hits.
In the bottom of the 10th, Frank DiPino came on for Houston. Len Dykstra started out with a walk. Next, Darryl Strawberry hit his second HR of the game, a shot to center field over the 410 foot marker. The exciting two run shot tied the game, it was Darryl's 12th HR of the season.
Straw Trivia: During this eight game win streak, Strawberry hit .407 with 11 hits, four doubles, three HRs & eight RBIs. The two HRs in the game were his first HRs off left handed pitching this season. It was also his second multi-HR game this year & the 11th of his career.
The Mets won the game 6-5 for their seventh straight win. Knight came out for the obligatory curtain call, blowing a kiss to his wife, gold pro Nancy Lopez in the stands. It was Knight's first of two walk off hits that season.
Quotes- Broadcaster Tim McCarver: "Francis Albert Sinatra sang start spreading the news & the Mets are doing exactly that. They're spreading the news that they are right now the dominant team in this game."
In the bottom of the 1st inning, Lenny Dykstra led off with a double to right field. During the win streak Dykstra hit five doubles & batted .353. He advanced to third on Wally Backman's ground out. Keith Hernandez then singled up the middle scoring Dykstra with the first Mets run & Keith's 34th RBI of the season.
In the top of the 2nd, Kevin Bass led off with a base hit, but was erased by Mets catcher Gary Carter, as he attempted to steal second.
Nolan Ryan would pitch five innings, allowing one run on three hits, striking out six & walking three.
In the top of the 7th, Dwight Gooden served up a one out HR to the dangerous Kevin Bass, trying up the game at one.
In the bottom of the 7th, after a fun filled Shea seventh inning stretch, the Astros Dave Smith came in to pitch.
Dave Smith Mets Trivia: In the regular season Smith made three appearances against the Mets going 1-1 giving up five earned runs in three innings for a 15.00 ERA. In the NLCS he made two appearances giving up two runs in two innings for a 9.00 ERA. In Game #3 at Shea Stadium he gave up the walk off HR to Lenny Dykstra taking the loss & blown save.
In this game, Smith walked Rafael Santana to start the inning. With two strikes on him, Dwight Gooden sacrificed Santana over to second.
strikes. I was going to bunt again even if he didn't tell me to".
Lenny Dykstra then doubled to right field, scoring Santana making it 2-1 Mets.
In the top of the 9th, Glenn Davis grounded out then Gooden struck out Kevin Bass. He then walked Phil Garner, putting the tying run on base. Manager Davey Johnson stuck with his pitcher & Craig Reynolds grounded out to Keith Hernandez unassisted at first base to end the game.
In the top of the 8th, Ty Gainey drew a one out walk. Then Denny Walling grounded to Howard Johnson at third, when Hojo threw to first Gainey made a blunder trying to reach third. Keith Hernandez saw him threw to third & got Gainey to end the inning.
Astro Manager Hal Lanier: "You don't ever make the third out at third base. There's no
percentage, no reason to try it. Maybe he doesn't know Hernandez like I know Hernandez. You don't try it with him at first."
Dwight Gooden, went the distance, allowing one run on five hits, while striking out four & walking five. He went to 10-3 with a 2.58 ERA, on the season, matching Sid Fernandez for the team lead in victories.
Gooden Trivia: In his career up to that point he was 8-1 against the Astros. Nolan Ryan took the loss his fifth straight to the Mets dating back to May 6th 1984, when he beat Gooden.
Quotes- Keith Hernandez: " Our pitchers are the finest staff I've ever played with & one of the finest I've seen in my twelve years. It takes the pressure off the offense. They keep us in the game".
The Mets only had five hits in the game, with Len Dykstra collecting two of them, along with the game winning RBI.
Running Away With It: The Mets now had a 12.5 game lead over the Expos, the largest first place lead at this point in any season in franchise history. Only the 1912 NY Giants had a larger lead (14.5 games) by July 4th.