June 20, 1964: Christopher and Taylor Double-Slug Phillies
From The Met Wiki
| Date: June 20, 1964 |
| Mets starter: Jack Fisher |
| Mets: 7 |
| Phillies: 3 |
| Winning pitcher: Jack Fisher |
| Key player(s): Joe Christopher, Hawk Taylor, Ed Kranepool |
| Key play: Christopher's & Taylor's homers, Kranepool's single |
The Mets played the Phillies on a Saturday night at Shea Stadium. Joe Christopher and Hawk Taylor led the Mets' offensive attack with two home runs apiece. The Mets emerged with a 7-3 win over the first place Phils.
Jack Fisher and Philadelphia's Dennis Bennett each started the game with two scoreless innings. In the third, Fisher shut down the Phils again, yielding only a single to Bennett. The Mets then scored three times in the bottom of the inning on Christopher's solo homer and a two-run blast by Hawk Taylor.
Following a scoreless fourth inning, the Phillies got a run in the fifth on Tony Taylor's single that scored Cookie Rojas. In the top of the sixth, Roy Sievers' two-run homer off Fisher tied the game at 3-3. Ed Kranepool then delivered a single off Phils' reliever Dallas Green to bring home Amado Samuel with the go-ahead run for the Mets in the bottom of the sixth inning.
In the top of the seventh, Rojas and Johnny Briggs got singles off Fisher. Al Jackson came in to relieve with two out. Jackson got Phils' slugger Johnny Callison to pop out to second baseman Ron Hunt to end the inning with the Mets' one-run lead intact.
Facing reliever Jack Baldschun, Christopher hit his second home run of the game leading off the bottom of the seventh inning. With Dick Smith on second base and one out, Hawk Taylor hit his second homer for two more New York runs. The Mets put two more runners on base in the inning before Baldschun struck out Kranepool for the final out.
Jackson shut down the Phillies in the eighth and ninth innings to end the game. The Mets had a victory over the National League leaders on pairs of homers from two players. The win also snapped an eight-game losing streak for the team.
