April 23, 1992: Boston Gets Hit by a Pitch
From The Met Wiki
| Date: April 23, 1992 |
| Mets starter: Bret Saberhagen |
| Mets: 1 |
| Cardinals: 0 |
| Winning pitcher: John Franco |
| Key player(s): Bret Saberhagen, Jeff Innis, Daryl Boston |
| Key play: Innis's pitching in 11th, Boston's hit-by-pitch in 13th |
The Mets aimed for a three-game sweep against the Cardinals on a Thursday afternoon at Shea Stadium. The game was scoreless after twelve innings of play. The Mets then came away with a 1-0 victory when Daryl Boston was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 13th.
Bret Saberhagen pitched nine innings of shutout ball for the Mets. He retired nine straight St. Louis hitters after Todd Zeile's triple in the first inning and struck out Milt Thompson with two runners on base to end the fourth. Bret then got the Cards out in order in the fifth and sixth innings and allowed only two more hits the rest of the way. Meanwhile, the Mets were unable to score against Cardinal pitchers Donovan Osborne and Mike Perez.
Paul Gibson and the Cards' Todd Worrell each pitched a scoreless inning in the tenth. St. Louis then loaded the bases against Jeff Innis in the top of the eleventh. Innis answered the challenge by getting Zeile to ground to third base, where Dave Magadan threw to catcher Todd Hundley for a force out at home on Ozzie Smith. Jeff then struck out Pedro Guerrero and got Brian Jordan to ground out to Magadan for the final out of the inning.
In the twelfth, John Franco came in to pitch for the Mets. Thompson led off the inning by reaching on an infield error. Pinch-hitter Rex Hudler hit into a force play and was then caught stealing. Franco retired Tom Pagnozzi and followed with a perfect thirteenth inning.
Magadan singled off Cardinals' reliever Juan Agosto with one out in the bottom of the 13th. Junior Noboa also singled, moving pinch-runner Rodney McCray to second base. After McCray stole third, pinch-hitter Charlie O'Brien was walked intentionally to load the bases for the Mets. Agosto then threw a pitch that hit Boston to bring home McCray with the winning run. The Mets had a sweep of the three games against St. Louis.
