McCARVER'S GAME-WINNING SLAM IN 17TH PACES PHILS
Untimely Mets Errors Lead to 7 Unearned Runs
PHILADELPHIA, May 24 (AP) - Tim McCarver hit a two-out grand slam off Jerry
Koosman in the bottom of the 17th inning giving the Philadelphia Phillies a 12-8
victory over the New York Mets in a marathon contest at Veterans Stadium.
The home run, coming three batters after the potential game-winning run was
thrown out at the plate, extended Philadelphia's winning streak to four.
The Mets committed two errors in the game--the second coming in the 17th
inning--leading to seven unearned runs scored by the Phillies.
Philadelphia also committed a pair of errors in the game, but neither affected
the scoring.
The contest marked the second time this year the Mets had played a 17-inning
game; New York fell, 5-1, to the Montreal Expos in the season opening game at
Shea Stadium on April 9.
The Mets took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on John Milner's sacrifice fly and
extended the advantage to 3-0 in the fourth on RBI singles off the bats of Felix
Millan and Milner. But the Phillies knotted the game with three runs in
the bottom of the fourth. Larry Bowa singled and was doubled home by Mike
Schmidt. Greg Luzinski followed with his fifth home run of the
season. The two-run blow, off New York starter Mickey Lolich, tied the
game at 3-3.
The Mets regained the lead in the fifth when Del Unser doubled off Phillies
starter Larry Christenson and scored on Ed Kranepool's triple. The
Phillies tied things up in the bottom half of the frame when Christenson homered
to left off Lolich.
New York took the lead yet again in the sixth, and chased Christenson in the
process. Wayne Garrett led off with a double and was sacrificed to third
by Millan. Tug McGraw replaced Christenson on the hill, but Milner drove
home his third run of the game with a sacrifice fly, giving the Mets a 6-5 lead.
But the Phillies roared back with three runs in the bottom of the sixth, helped
immeasurably by a defensive mistake. Schmidt led off the inning with his
second double of the contest, but Luzinski grounded to third for the first
out. Ollie Brown's swinging bunt to the left of the mound was fielded by
Lolich, but the left-hander air-mailed his throw over the head of Joe Torre at
first. Schmidt scored the tying run on the play and Brown ended up at
second. Gary Maddox lined to short for the second out and Dick Allen was
walked intentionally to get to Bob Boone. But the Philadelphia catcher
foiled the strategy, doubling to left-center, scoring both Brown and Allen, and
putting the Phillies ahead for the first time, 7-5.
The Mets evened the game in the eighth. With one out, Millan drew a walk
from McGraw and Milner followed with his third hit of the contest, a single to
right-center, advancing Millan to third. Ron Reed replaced McGraw on the
mound but Torre singled to right, scoring Millan and advancing Milner to
third. As the potential go-ahead run, Bruce Boisclear pinch ran for Torre.
Unser lifted a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Milner to tie the game, but
Boisclair was subsequently thrown out trying to steal second, ending the inning
with the game now tied at seven.
The Mets had a chance to take the lead in the tenth, but Roy Staiger was thrown
out at the plate trying to score on an infield roller.
In the top of the 14th, New York finally broke the tie on Ron Hodges' two-out
solo home run off Ron Schueler. But as they had all game, the Phillies
fought back to tie it in the bottom of the inning. McCarver drew a
lead-off walk from Rick Baldwin and moved to second on a single off the bat of
pinch hitter Terry Harmon. Dave Cash then walked, loading the bases with
no outs. Larry Bowa lined to Millan at second for the first out but
Schmidt drew a free pass, forcing in the tying run. But the Phillies were
unable to get the game-winner home as Luzinksi grounded to the drawn-in Millan
who threw home for the force. The relay to first completed the 4-2-3
double play and sent the game to the 15th inning.
In the 17th, the Mets' depleted pitching staff was forced to call upon Koosman,
a starter, to enter the game and he retired Schmidt on a ground ball to start
the frame. He then induced Jerry Martin to ground to Roy Staiger at third,
but Staiger's throw to first was wide, allowing Martin to reach on the
error. On a 2-2 pitch, Bobby Tolan lined a ball into the gap in
left-center field for a double. Martin tried to score on the play but was
cut down at the plate on a relay from shortstop Bud Harrelson. Garry
Maddox was walked intentionally to get to Allen, but Koosman walked him as well,
filling the bases. Koosman fell behind McCarver 2-0 and had to come in
with a fastball. McCarver was waiting for it and drove it over the right
field wall for a grand slam, finally ending the game.
5/24/1976, NYN76-Phi76, Veterans Stadium 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1976 Mets 1 0 0 2 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 1976 Phillies 0 0 0 3 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 13 14 15 16 17 R H E LOB DP 1976 Mets 0 1 0 0 0 8 17 2 13 2 1976 Phillies 0 1 0 0 4 12 13 2 9 0 Mets AB R H BI AVG Phillies AB R H BI AVG Garrett,W 3b 4 2 2 0 .197 Cash 2b 7 0 3 0 .319 Staiger ph 4 0 1 0 .200 Bowa ss 8 1 1 0 .282 Millan 2b 5 1 3 1 .241 Schmidt 3b 7 2 2 2 .295 Milner lf 6 1 3 3 .298 Luzinski lf 4 1 1 2 .258 Torre 1b 5 0 2 1 .313 Martin lf 4 0 0 0 .278 Boisclair pr 3 0 0 0 .281 Brown,O rf 3 1 0 0 .180 Unser cf 6 1 1 1 .317 Tolan ph 5 1 2 0 .243 Kranepool rf 8 0 1 1 .300 Maddox,G cf 6 1 0 0 .322 Hodges c 7 1 1 1 .196 Allen 1b 5 2 0 0 .339 Koosman p 0 0 0 0 .389 Boone c 3 0 1 2 .175 Harrelson ss 7 1 1 0 .246 McCarver ph 4 2 1 4 .250 Lolich p 3 1 2 0 .381 Christenson p 2 1 1 1 .400 Ayala ph 1 0 0 0 .043 McGraw p 1 0 0 0 .000 Sanders p 0 0 0 0 .000 Reed p 0 0 0 0 .000 Phillips ph 1 0 0 0 .276 Johnstone ph 1 0 0 0 .341 Apodaca p 0 0 0 0 .000 Twitchell p 0 0 0 0 .000 Kingman ph 1 0 0 0 .205 Hutton ph 1 0 0 0 .217 Baldwin,R p 0 0 0 0 .000 Schueler p 0 0 0 0 .000 Brown,L ph 1 0 0 0 .000 Harmon ph 1 0 1 0 .375 Webb p 0 0 0 0 .000 Garber p 0 0 0 0 .000 Grote ph 1 0 0 0 .198 62 12 13 11 63 8 17 8 Mets INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Lolich 6.0 7 7 4 2 2 89 57 4.30 Sanders 3.0 2 0 0 1 2 45 30 1.93 Apodaca 2.0 1 0 0 0 1 19 12 1.72 Baldwin,R 3.0 1 1 1 3 0 43 22 1.29 Webb 2.0 0 0 0 1 0 27 15 11.30 Koosman L 3-3 0.2 2 4 0 2 0 29 13 2.79 16.2 13 12 5 9 5 252 149 Phillies INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Christenson 5.1 11 5 5 1 1 81 50 6.28 McGraw 2.0 2 2 2 2 1 45 27 1.26 Reed BS 2 1.2 1 0 0 0 1 17 9 4.15 Twitchell 2.0 2 0 0 0 0 20 14 3.52 Schueler 3.0 1 1 1 0 2 39 23 2.70 Garber W 1-0 3.0 0 0 0 2 3 46 27 3.74 17.0 17 8 8 5 8 248 150 NYN: Ayala batted for Lolich in the 7th Staiger batted for Garrett,W in the 8th Boisclair ran for Torre in the 8th Staiger moved to 3b in the 8th Boisclair moved to rf in the 8th Kranepool moved to 1b in the 8th Phillips batted for Sanders in the 10th Kingman batted for Apodaca in the 12th Brown,L batted for Baldwin,R in the 15th Grote batted for Webb in the 17th Grote moved to c in the 17th Phi: Martin inserted at lf in the 8th Tolan batted for Brown,O in the 8th McCarver batted for Boone in the 8th Martin moved to rf in the 9th Tolan moved to lf in the 9th McCarver moved to c in the 9th Johnstone batted for Reed in the 9th Hutton batted for Twitchell in the 11th Harmon batted for Schueler in the 14th E-Lolich, Staiger, Allen, McCarver. 2B-Garrett,W 2(4), Torre(5), Unser(11), Schmidt 2(9), Boone(5), Tolan 2(3). 3B-Kranepool(1). HR-Hodges(2), Luzinski(5), Christenson(1), McCarver(1). RBI-Millan(12), Milner 3(12), Torre(10), Unser(23), Kranepool(12), Hodges(4), Schmidt 2(28), Luzinski 2(18), Boone 2(12), Christenson(3), McCarver 4(5). SB-Allen(2). CS-Millan, Boisclair. K-Milner, Unser 2, Harrelson, Lolich, Staiger, Boisclair, Grote, Schmidt 2, Luzinski, Allen, McCarver. BB-Millan 2, Unser, Hodges, Harrelson, Cash, Schmidt, Maddox,G 2, Allen 3, McCarver, Garber. SH-Millan. SF-Milner 2, Unser. GWRBI: McCarver Temperature: 77, Sky: clear, Wind: in from center at 4 MPH. Attendance: 24,362 Game Time: 4:53