Amazin' Date 4/10/1969: Agee and Gentry Lead Mets to Series Victory Over Expos

From the desk of:  HEAD-BUTTING MR. MET

AMAZIN'

THE MIRACLE METS

50th ANNIVERSARY

Game Three: Thursday, April 10, 1969 - BR
Montreal Expos @ New York Mets
Shea Stadium

Tommy Agee homers twice as Mets take rubber game from Expos and notch first series win of the new season.

Young starter Gary Gentry cruised through the first eight innings of his major league debut, surrendering just one earned run on four hits and two walks with four strikeouts.  But he ultimately ran out of gas in the final frame.  With two outs in the ninth, Gil Hodges felt compelled to relieve his weary rookie upon watching Montreal produce three late hits and a run.  Cal Koonce faced two batters in relief of Gentry to earn his first save.

FINAL

Expos  2

Mets     4

Had there been nothing in the way impeding its flight, Tommie Agee's prodigious second inning home run off Expos starter Larry Jaster might have landed in Flushing Bay for all we know.  Montreal left fielder Mack Jones claims the ball was still rising when it careened high off the concrete wall behind the upper deck boxes at Shea Stadium.  With only 8,608 fans in attendance, the mad scramble ensued up the ramps in pursuit of the well traveled souvenir.  Agee's second home run in the seventh inning effectively ended Larry Jester's day.  The Montreal starter was charged with all four New York runs on eight hits, but issued no walks and fanned five before yielding to reliever Carroll Sembera.

Ed Charles and Ron Swoboda each drove in a run apiece.  Swoboda would also turn in a defensive gem in the fifth, unleashing a fine throw from left to nail Expos third baseman Coco Laboy at the plate which at the time preserved a 3-1 Mets lead.

Next: the Mets host the defending National League champion St. Louis Cardinals.