August 30, 1990: Mets' Homers Pound Giants
From The Met Wiki
| Date: August 30, 1990 |
| Mets starter: Sid Fernandez |
| Mets: 12 |
| Giants: 2 |
| Winning pitcher: Sid Fernandez |
| Key player(s): Gregg Jefferies, Howard Johnson, Darryl Strawberry |
| Key play: Jefferies' homer, Johnson's homer, Strawberry's grand slam |
The Mets and Giants began a four-game series on a Thursday night at Shea Stadium. It was a display of power by the Mets as they hammered three home runs to account for nine runs in the game. The Mets ended up with a 12-2 win over San Francisco.
In the first inning, the Mets started off with two runs against Giants' starter Mike LaCoss. Dave Magadan walked with one out and Gregg Jefferies followed with a single. Magadan then came home on a single by Darryl Strawberry and a sacrifice fly by Kevin McReynolds brought home Jefferies.
LaCoss walked Magadan for the second time to start the bottom of the third. Jefferies hit a home run to increase the Mets' lead to 4-0. Mets' starter Sid Fernandez then pitched a perfect top of the fourth, getting Kevin Mitchell and Matt Williams for his seventh and eighth strikeouts of the game.
Sid struck out two more San Francisco batters in a scoreless fifth inning. In the bottom half, Strawberry doubled with two out and moved to third base on McReynolds' infield single. Howard Johnson clouted a home run to make a 7-0 lead for the Mets. LaCoss was then replaced by Giants' reliever Mark Dewey.
In the sixth and seventh innings, Fernandez recorded two more strikeouts in shutting down the Giants. He then gave up a double to Brett Butler and two runs in the top of the eighth. Reliever Alejandro Pena completed the inning by getting Mitchell to fly out.
The Mets loaded the bases in the bottom of the eighth against Francisco Oliveras. Magadan drove home Tim Teufel with a ground out and Jefferies drew a walk. With the sacks refilled, Strawberry smacked a grand slam to raise the Met lead to ten runs. Oliveras then struck out McReynolds to end the inning.
Pena pitched a scoreless top of the ninth to finish off the game. The Mets had a decisive victory to start the long weekend series.
