July 17, 1963: Hicks Homers in 11th
From The Met Wiki
| Date: July 17, 1963 |
| Mets starter: Tracy Stallard |
| Mets: 9 |
| Giants: 7 |
| Winning pitcher: Galen Cisco |
| Key player(s): Jesse Gonder, Frank Thomas, Joe Hicks |
| Key play: Gonder's homer in 3rd, Thomas's double in 9th, Hicks' homer in 11th |
The Mets and Giants began a two-game series on a Wednesday night at the Polo Grounds. Every player in the Mets' starting lineup had at least one hit and the teams combined for 30 in the game. The end result was a 9-7 Mets win on Joe Hicks' home run in the 11th inning.
In the top of the first, the Giants got a run against Mets' starter Tracy Stallard. Harvey Kuenn led off with a triple and scored on Willie McCovey's one-out single. San Francisco's Gaylord Perry shut down the Mets in the bottom half despite singles by Joe Christopher and Duke Snider. Kuenn's single in the top of the second brought home Orlando Cepeda with the Giants' second run. The Mets then scored when Larry Burright came home on second baseman Chuck Hiller's error of Al Moran's ground ball in the bottom of the inning.
Willie Mays tripled with one out in the top of the third. Mays scored on Stallard' wild pitch for a 3-1 San Francisco lead. Tracy followed up by getting Ed Bailey to foul out to catcher Jesse Gonder. He then retired Cepeda on a fly ball to right fielder Christopher for the third out.
Christopher walked to open the bottom of the third inning. Hicks struck out and Snider reached base on Hiller's second error of the game. Gonder followed with a three-run homer to put the Mets ahead, 4-3. Perry completed the inning with no further scoring amid a single by Jim Hickman. Stallard then pitched a scoreless top of the fourth.
In the bottom of the fourth, Christopher homered for the Mets' fifth run of the game. The Giants answered with a solo home run by McCovey in the top of the fifth. Perry shut down the Mets despite giving up a double to Frank Thomas in the bottom of the inning. Stallard then held San Francisco without a run in the top of the sixth.
Moran and Stallard each singled with one out in the bottom of the sixth inning. Christopher hit a force play grounder on which Moran scored from third base. Hicks followed with a single and Perry was removed from the game. Giants' reliever Billy Hoeft then retired Snider on a foul pop-up to catcher Bailey.
Stallard shut down San Francisco again in the top of the seventh inning. San Francisco's Jack Fisher pitched a scoreless bottom half despite a walk to Hickman and Burright's single. Mays led off the top of the eighth with a single to left field. Stallard was then replaced by Mets' reliever Don Rowe.
Bailey greeted Rowe with a single on which Mays went to third base. Cepeda followed with a single off Jay Hook to score Mays. Hiller got a single to bring home Bailey and tie the game at 6-6. Jose Pagan got the fifth consecutive San Francisco single to plate Cepeda, giving the Giants a 7-6 lead. In relief of Hook, Ken MacKenzie recorded outs on the next three batters to end the inning.
Fisher retired the Mets in order in the bottom of the eighth. In the ninth, Galen Cisco set down the Giants with a 1-2-3 inning. Snider singled to lead off the bottom half for the Mets. Thomas doubled with one out to score pinch-runner Rod Kanehl and tie the game. Trying to advance on the throw home, Frank was thrown out at third by Bailey. Fisher then retired Hickman on a fly ball to left fielder McCovey to send the game into extra innings.
Cisco and Fisher each recorded a perfect 10th inning. In the top of the 11th, Galen struck out all three San Francisco hitters to come to bat. Christopher began the bottom of the 11th with a single off Giants' reliever Don Larsen. Hicks followed with a home run to end the game. The Mets a thrilling two-run victory.
