Dave VW
October 12, 2023
The comeback kids do it again, rallying back after the Cubs struck for 2 runs in the 1st inning off Mark Clark to win it, with Butch Huskey playing the hero. He capped a 4-for-5 day with a walk-off RBI single in the 10th inning, helping the Mets snap a 3-game losing skid.
The Mets went with something of a B-team lineup for this 12 o'clock contest, benching most of their stronger lefties (Todd Hundley, John Olerud, Carlos Baerga, Lance Johnson) to get an all-right-hand-hitting cast vs. Terry Mulholland. They started slow but finally got things going in the 6th, when Bernard Gilkey might have hit his longest HR as a Met over the LF bleachers to leadoff the inning. Huskey followed by banging one high off the left-centerfield wall for a double, and Todd Pratt, who was hitting a cool .435 at the time, singled him home to tie the score at 3-3.
The Cubs managed just 1 hit over the last 4 innings, thanks to some superb relief work by Greg McMichael and John Franco. Meanwhile, the Mets had a golden chance to walk it off in the 9th, but instead of sacrificing Pratt to 2nd with 1 out to bring up Hundley for a chance to win it with a single, they chose to have Baerga hit for Luis Lopez in the 8-spot, and he grounded into a force out. They then summoned Hundley to pinch hit, and he got a single, but with Baerga only on first he couldn't score. Rey Ordonez, in his first at-bat after spelling the injured Manny Alexander (who got hurt making a sparkling defensive play in the 8th inning, but would only miss 2 games), popped out to the catcher to force extra innings. With a little different strategy, the Mets could have won it right then and there. But not to worry, as Huskey drove in Edgardo Alfonzo to win it in the 10th, marking the Mets 4th straight win in a game that advanced to extras.
This game was interesting for 2 other reasons: First, Josh Lewin, who was a part of the Mets radio team from 2012-18, called the game for the Cubs on WGN. It was his only season with Chicago. Second, only a few weeks later the Mets and Cubs got together for a 6-player trade, and all but 1 of the 6 (Mel Rojas) were featured in this game. It would be the first trade made by Steve Phillips, who replaced Joe McIlvaine as Mets GM the day before this game.
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