Houston, TX-- The Mets' caravan has taken them to Houston, and finally they are enjoying a winning streak.
Charlie Smith's two-run homer in the fifth inning put the Mets up to stay, and they used more clutch hitting and clutch pitching to subdue the Houston Colt .45s, 5-3 Friday night at Colts Stadium.
It was the first time all year that the Mets (8-28) have strung together more than one win in a row.
Lefty Al Jackson was sharp, going 8.2 innings before needing help from Larry Bearnarth to nail down the victory.
Jackson scattered eight hits and walked only three, striking out two.
After Smith's blast, the Mets scored two more in the sixth and one in the eighth to keep the .45s at bay.
"Good win," Smith said. "We're starting to feel more confident now. Hopefully our bad start is behind us."
Mets manager Casey Stengel was asked what a winning streak feels like.
"Start printing World Series tickets!" the Perfesser said, and no one knew if he was joking or not.
Smith's third home run of the season got the Mets' offense started
The ninth inning got a little scary, though.
Leading 5-1, Jackson got the first two Colt .45s out, then quickly ran into trouble, surrendering back-to-back doubles by John Bateman and Eddie Kasko---the seventh and eighth men in the Houston batting order---to produce a run. Pinch-hitter Bob Aspromonte singled home Kasko, and just like that, it was 5-3.
Enter Bearnarth, but he gave up a single to Bob Lillis, bringing the winning run to the plate in the form of veteran Nellie Fox. But Bearnarth induced a fly ball to George Altman in left and the Mets' first winning streak was in the books.
The series continues with a doubleheader Saturday afternoon.
*****************************************
Mets record: 8-28, .222 (Last 10: 5-5; streak: W-2); Actual: 11-25
Home: 2-11; Away: 6-17
Runs scored: 102
Runs against: 191
No comments:
Post a Comment