April 22, 1979: Four Runs in 8th Beat Phillies
From The Met Wiki
| Date: April 22, 1979 |
| Mets starter: Pete Falcone |
| Mets: 4 |
| Phillies: 2 |
| Winning pitcher: Jesse Orosco |
| Key player(s): Frank Taveras, Gil Flores |
| Key play: Flores' & Taveras's singles in 8th |
The Mets faced the Phillies on a Sunday afternoon at Veterans Stadium. After losing six consecutive games, the Mets were in need of a win. They came from behind to defeat Philadelphia, 4-2, ending the skid.
Over the first seven innings, the Phils scored twice against Mets' starter Pete Falcone. Sacrifice flies by Tim McCarver in the second and Pete Rose in the seventh brought home Bob Boone and Larry Bowa, respectively, for the Philadelphia runs. Meanwhile, the Mets were shut down on two hits by Phils' starter Steve Carlton.
Joel Youngblood led off the top of the eighth inning with a home run. John Stearns followed with a double and scored on a pinch-hit single by Gil Flores to tie the game at 2-2. After Jesse Orosco's sacrifice bunt, Frank Taveras singled off Phillies' reliever Ron Reed to score Flores and put the Mets ahead. Taveras came around to score on the play when third baseman Mike Schmidt made an errant throw.
The Phillies loaded the bases with one out against Orosco in the bottom of the eighth. Mets' reliever Skip Lockwood came in and got Jose Cardenal to ground into an inning-ending double play. The Mets were then held scoreless by Reed in the top of the ninth.
After allowing a walk and a single to begin the bottom of the ninth, Lockwood got pinch-hitter Greg Gross on strikes for the first out of the inning. Skip followed up with his second double play ball, getting Dave Rader to hit into the final outs of the game. The Mets' losing streak was over with a comeback victory.
Notes
- The win for Orosco was the first of his major league career.
