KOOSMAN, AGEE ANSWER BACK CHALLENGE FROM CUBS, METS JUST 1.5 GAMES OUT
Monday, September 8, 1969
Jerry Koosman answered Bill Hands’s knockdown pitches and the Mets stood up to the Cubs in the opener of their crucial two-game series at Shea.
Hands, looking to deliver a message to the pesky Mets, knocked down leadoff batter Tommie Agee not once but twice in the first inning. But Koosman responded by drilling Cubs leader Ron Santo to begin the second inning, and then the lefthander proceeded to strand Santo on first by striking out the next three batters.
In the bottom of the third, Agee got his own measure of revenge. With two outs and Bud Harrelson standing on first, Agee drove a Hands offering over the fence to give the home team a 2-0 lead.
Koosman faltered in the top of the sixth. He gave up a run by surrendering singles to Don Kessinger, Glenn Beckert, and Billy Williams to begin the inning, and then Ron Santo’s sacrifice fly tied the game.
But again, New York answered back. Agee led off the bottom of the inning with a double and came around to score on Wayne Garrett’s single.
Koosman hung tough from there. Chicago threatened in the eighth when Beckert and Williams opened the inning with consecutive singles, but then Koosman induced Santo to ground into a double play, short to second to first. Ernie Banks stepped in the box with the tying run 90 feet away, but Koosman retired him on strikes and then worked around a Randy Hundley single in the ninth by notching his eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth strikeouts of the game.
The Mets’ victory drew the team to within just 1.5 games of first, the closest they’ve been all season.
Mets 3, Cubs 2. W: Koosman (13-9) L: Hands (16-13)
***
NL EAST STANDINGS
W L T PCT GB RS RA
Chicago Cubs 84 57 1 .596 - 653 519
New York Mets 81 57 0 .587 1.5 548 490
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Tags: 1969, Baseball, Bill Hands, Billy Williams, Bud Harrelson, Chicago Cubs, Don Kessinger, Glenn Beckert, Jerry Koosman, New York Mets, Randy Hundley, Rob Kirkpatrick, Ron Santo, Shea Stadium, Tommie Agee, Wayne Garrett
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