AMAZIN'
THE MIRACLE METS
50th ANNIVERSARY
1969
WORLD SERIES
GAME FOUR
Orioles 1
Mets 2
10 INNINGS
SHEA STADIUM
TOM SEAVER TEN INNING GEM LIFTS METS TO 3-1 SERIES LEAD OVER BIRDS
The unflappable Gil Hodges and his amazin' Mets are one victory away from clinching baseball's world championship.
In a rematch of game one, Tom Seaver toes the rubber at Shea Stadium opposed by Baltimore's Mike Cuellar. If you recall it was Seaver making an early exit from the series opener at Baltimore, and Cuellar going the distance for the win. This time it is Cuellar making an untimely exit while Seaver pitches triumphantly through the tenth.
Also getting his second look at Cuellar is Donn Clendenon who goes 2 for 4 with a double in game one. On Wednesday leading off the second Donn hits his second home run in his last three games. Cuellar exits after seven innings having yielded the lone run on seven hits and no walks with five strikeouts in a no-decision effort. Meanwhile the score remains unchanged through eight. With one out in the top half of the ninth Tom Seaver yields consecutive singles to Frank Robinson and Boog Powell. Then with runners on the corners Brooks Robinson strokes a low sinking liner to right field. Ron Swoboda racing furiously to his right makes a full extension backhanded diving catch for the out. Frank Robinson tags and scores the tying run from third. But anything less than Swoboda's amazing catch means that ball bounces all the way to the wall. Seaver then fans Elrod Henricks ending the threat.
Into extra-innings they go ...
Manager Hodges sends his ace back out for the tenth inning. Tom Seaver obliges with another scoreless frame. Leading off the bottom half of the inning against Orioles reliever Dick Hall, Jerry Grote flares an excuse me double up along the left field line. Al Weis is intentionally walked, and the Orioles then summon reliever Pete Richert. Pinch-hitting for Seaver, J.C. Martin pushes a bunt up along the first base side. Richert fields it, but his attempted throw to first hits Martin. Pinch-runner Rod Gaspar rounds third and when the ball gets away he hustles home scoring the winning run.
Tom Seaver puts forth New York's third straight dominant performance against a seemingly over matched Baltimore lineup. He faces 38 batters, allowing just one earned run on six hit and two walks with six strikeouts through ten full innings pitched. The Mets have now limited Baltimore to just a pair of runs and twelves hits over their last three games. New York's defense also should not go under spoken. Superlative glove work from Tommie Agee, Bud Harrelson, Cleon Jones, and Ron Swoboda, no doubt have had a deflating effect upon Orioles hitters.
