June 23, 1962: Ashburn's Homers Lead Mets' Rout of Colt .45s
From The Met Wiki
| Date: June 23, 1962 |
| Mets starter: Jay Hook |
| Mets: 13 |
| Colt .45s: 2 |
| Winning pitcher: Jay Hook |
| Key player(s): Richie Ashburn, Frank Thomas, Jay Hook |
| Key play: Thomas’s two-run single, Ashburn’s two homers |
The Mets faced the Colt .45s on a Saturday afternoon at the Polo Grounds. The National League’s newest teams squared off the day after splitting a doubleheader. Richie Ashburn hit a pair of homers and scored four runs as the Mets defeated Houston, 13-2.
In the top of the first inning, Al Spangler led off with a home run to give the .45s a quick 1-0 lead. Mets’ starter Jay Hook retired three of the next four batters to finish the inning with no further scoring. Ashburn began the bottom half with a single off Colts’ starter Ken Johnson and went to third base on Charlie Neal’s ensuing double. Following an out, Frank Thomas singled to score Ashburn and Neal to put the Mets ahead by a run. Johnson then got Marv Throneberry to ground into an inning-ending double play.
After a scoreless second inning, Hook set down Houston without a hit in the top of the third. Jay led off the bottom of the inning with an infield single. Ashburn followed with a home run to extend the Mets’ lead to 4-1. Neal flied out to left fielder Spangler and a pair of walks were drawn by Felix Mantilla and Thomas. Throneberry tripled to right field for two more Met runs. Johnson was then replaced on the mound by Colts’ reliever Dean Stone.
Sammy Taylor greeted Stone with a double that brought home Throneberry for the Mets’ seventh run. Joe Christopher grounded out to second baseman Billy Goodman and a single by Elio Chacon scored Taylor. Hook grounded back to Stone for the final out of the inning. Jay then shut down the .45s in the top of the fourth.
Ashburn led off the bottom of the fourth inning with an inside-the-park home run. Neal doubled and went to third on Stone’s error of Mantilla’s ground ball. Thomas hit into a force play on which Neal came home to make it a 10-1 Mets lead. Stone got Throneberry to fly out to right fielder Roman Mejias and struck out Taylor to end the inning. Hook then pitched a perfect top of the fifth.
A leadoff home run by Christopher gave the Mets their eleventh run in the bottom of the fifth inning. Chacon hit a single and Stone recorded outs on each of the next three batters. For Houston, Carl Warwick got a two-out single and went to second on center fielder Christopher’s error in the top of the sixth. An ensuing single by Merritt Ranew plated Warwick with the .45s second run. After a single by Bob Aspromonte, Hook retired Bob Lillis on a grounder to shortstop Chacon for the third out. Colts’ reliever John Anderson then shut down the Mets in the bottom of the inning.
Following a scoreless seventh, Hook limited Houston to a double by Aspromonte in the top of the eighth. Jay singled off .45’s reliever Bobby Tiefenauer to begin the bottom half. Ashburn drew a walk and Tiefenauer’s errant pickoff throw moved the runners to second and third. Neal walked to load the bases and Mantilla hit a sacrifice fly to score Hook. Jim Hickman singled to reload the bases and a groundout by Gil Hodges brought home Ashburn for the Mets’ thirteenth (and Richie’s fourth) run of the game. Tiefenauer then retired Taylor on a fly ball to right fielder Jim Pendleton to end the inning.
In the top of the ninth, Hook got Don Buddin to pop out to Chacon. He followed up by retiring Spangler on a line drive to left fielder Hickman. Jay then got Goodman to ground out to Chacon and end the game. The Mets had an easy victory over their first-year brethren.
