Cincinnati-- Ron Hunt has been a good hitter on a bad team so far in 1964.
Friday night, he got to be a good hitter on a winning team.
Hunt, batting .346, slammed a two-run, two-out triple in the fifth inning, giving the New York Mets a 3-0 lead, and they survived a scary ninth to beat the Cincinnati Reds, 3-2 at Crosley Field to snap an 11-game losing streak.
Hunt is 18-for-52 this season, and leads the team with eight RBI.
"Just trying to get good wood on the ball," Hunt explained when asked about his triple off Reds starter Joey Jay. "We had two runners on with two outs. I had to get them in, because we haven't been scoring runs."
Indeed; the Mets (2-11) have scored just 34 runs in 13 games.
"Hallelujah," said Mets manager Casey Stengel. "The beer will finally taste cold again."
The win wasn't without drama.
In the ninth, after two men were out, Mets third baseman Rod Kanehl booted a grounder, which led to a Reds run and Galen Cisco needing to be summoned from the bullpen with runners on second and third. Cisco then induced Leo Cardenas to ground weakly to second to secure just the Mets' second win of 1964.
Mets starter Tracy Stallard (1-3) was brilliant yet again. He pitched eight innings, giving up just four hits and one run. In 29 innings in four starts this season, Stallard sports a nifty 2.48 ERA.
Stallard turned in another strong performance Friday, and finally got a win for his efforts
Charley Smith hit his first homer of the season in the third to open the scoring. After the Mets went ahead 3-0, the Reds tallied once in the sixth on two doubles, and then scared the New Yorkers in the ninth.
The Mets' Frank Thomas went 0-for-4, leaving him in a 1-for-16 slump.
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Mets record: 2-11, .154 (Last 10: 1-9; streak: W-1); Actual: 2-11
Home: 0-4; Away: 2-7
Runs scored: 34
Runs against: 82
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