OTD 1986: Mets And Reds Play A Bizarre Game In Cincinnati

  How ironic, right? The Mets and Reds had a strange game on Monday night in Cincinnati, just days short of the anniversary of one of most unusual games in New York Mets’ franchise history, July 22, 1986. Let’s set the stage as we take a look back at the game played in Riverfront Stadium […]

The post OTD 1986: Mets And Reds Play A Bizarre Game In Cincinnati first appeared on Metsmerized Online.

How ironic, right?

The Mets and Reds had a strange game on Monday night in Cincinnati, just days short of the anniversary of one of most unusual games in New York Mets’ franchise history, July 22, 1986.

Let’s set the stage as we take a look back at the game played in Riverfront Stadium 36 years ago today. The Mets were having an epic season, entering the contest with a 60-28 record, in first place, eleven and one-half games ahead of the second-place Montreal Expos. The game started innocently enough, when Bob Ojeda took the mound for New York, opposed by Scott Terry of player/manager Pete Rose‘s Reds.

As was the case for many games in the 1986 season, the Mets seemed to be sleep-walking through the early innings. Dave Parker belted a two-run home run in the bottom of the third inning to put the Reds up 2-0. The Mets got one back on a Lenny Dykstra triple in the top of the fifth inning. A Buddy Bell home run in the bottom of the fifth made it 3-1 Reds, and it stayed that way until the ninth inning. Then, things got weird.

Ron Robinson came on to pitch the ninth for the Reds. Howard Johnson reached first base on a passed ball on strike three. However, Mookie Wilson grounded into a double play, and it seemed that the Mets were headed for a loss. Dykstra walked and Tim Teufel followed with a double. The Mets had runners on second and third, two outs, with Keith Hernandez digging in against future Met, John Franco, who relieved Robinson.

Hernandez hit a routine fly ball to right field, to the normally sure-handed Parker. The three-time gold glove outfielder dropped the ball, allowing the tying runs to score. That was just the tip of the iceberg of strangeness that would play out until the game was decided in the 14th inning.

Jesse Orosco entered the game to pitch the bottom of the tenth inning with the score still tied at three. Rose put himself up as a pinch hitter with one out in the tenth inning and singled, the last pinch hit of his career. He promptly took himself out of the game, sending in Eric Davis as a pinch runner. This turned out to be the equivalent of a boxer entering the ring.

Davis stole second and third base. Upon his steal of third, he bumped into third baseman Ray Knight. The two exchanged words, prompting umpire Eric Gregg to restrain Davis to prevent an altercation. Gregg’s action did not deter a fight, rather it encouraged one. With Davis held back, Knight, the former Golden Gloves boxer, threw a punch that landed on Davis. The benches cleared, and the melee was underway.

In an article by Shane Tourtellotte in The Hardball Times, Knight said, “He looked me right in the eyes, and I felt threatened”. He added, “I had a real short fuse back then, and I unloaded on him.”

For his role in the brawl, Knight was ejected from the game, as was the Mets’ Kevin Mitchell. Darryl Strawberry had been ejected earlier in the game. The Mets once again proved they were tough guys, but the problem was they were now short on available players in a tie game. Complicating the matter was that in 1986, teams were using 24-man rosters as part of ongoing labor strife in MLB.

When the dust settled, the Mets had to figure out how to navigate the rest of the game. Manager Davey Johnson used the opportunity to get creative. As the game resumed with two outs in the bottom of the tenth inning, Johnson put catcher Ed Hearn in the game, and moved starting receiver Gary Carter to third base. Johnson did not have a position player to put in right field, so he put Orosco there and brought Roger McDowell in to pitch.

McDowell got the third out of the tenth inning, and the Mets did not score in their half of the eleventh inning. McDowell pitched the bottom of the eleventh, until lefty-hitting Will Venable came up with two outs and a runner on second base. Johnson brought his right fielder, Orosco, in to pitch to Venable. Orosco was given eight warmup pitches as is customary, prompting Rose to challenge if this was legal, because Orosco was already in the game. The cameras panned to Rose reading the rule book in the dugout. Rose played the rest of the game under protest.

In the bottom of the twelfth inning, with Orosco pitching and McDowell in the outfield, Johnson moved McDowell away from the hitter’s pull side as left-handers and right-handers came up. With two outs and a runner on second, a ball was hit to McDowell in left-center field, but Dykstra raced to rescue, grabbing the ball in front of McDowell. Since the bottom of the tenth inning when Orosco had gone to the outfield, no Mets pitcher had to field a batted ball.

In the bottom of the thirteenth, that changed. It was Orosco in right field, who had to make a play on a ball hit by Tony Perez. From Tourtellotte’s article, Orosco said, “I squeezed it so hard, the stuffing could have come out.” Orosco made the play, and the game proceeded to the 14th inning, when the Mets put up three runs and held on for a 6-3 win.

Maybe there’s something about the Mets playing in Cincinnati in July. A 15-11 win in 2021, a game with a brawl and pitchers playing the outfield in 1986.

Maybe the schedule maker will put the Mets in Cincinnati in July of 2022. Who knows what may happen next.

The post OTD 1986: Mets And Reds Play A Bizarre Game In Cincinnati first appeared on Metsmerized Online.