July 9, 1964: Thomas Hits Home Run in 9th
From The Met Wiki
| Date: July 9, 1964 |
| Mets starter: Al Jackson |
| Mets: 4 |
| Cardinals: 3 |
| Winning pitcher: Al Jackson |
| Key player(s): Ron Hunt, Frank Thomas |
| Key play: Thomas’s home run in 9th |
In Shea Stadium’s first game after hosting the All-Star Game, the Mets faced the St. Louis Cardinals. Al Jackson and the Cards’ Curt Simmons pitched complete games to start the second half of the season. The Mets pulled out a 4-3 win on a two-run homer by Frank Thomas with two out in the ninth inning.
The game started with two St. Louis runs off Jackson in the top of the first. Curt Flood got a leadoff single and Lou Brock followed with a walk. Dick Groat then singled to right to score Flood as Brock moved to third. Jackson got Ken Boyer to hit into a double play on which Brock scored the second Cardinal run.
Jackson came to bat against Simmons with one out in the third. Al got an infield single and moved to third base on a double by Ed Kranepool. The Mets then tied the game on Ron Hunt’s single that scored Jackson and Kranepool.
From the fourth to the sixth, Jackson and Simmons pitched scoreless ball while allowing a combined total of four hits. In the seventh, St. Louis took a 3-2 lead. Julian Javier singled to lead off and advanced to third to two groundouts. Flood then singled to left to bring home Javier with the go-ahead run. Jackson struck out Brock to end the inning.
Entering the ninth, the Mets were still behind by a run. Joe Christopher led off with a single. Simmons then got George Altman on an infield pop up and Jim Hickman to fly out to right field. Frank Thomas was sent up to pinch-hit for Roy McMillan with the Mets down to their last out. Thomas hit a home run to left field to end the game. Just two days after Johnny Callison homered at Shea to bring victory to the National League, Frank did likewise for the Mets in the same fashion.
