KINGMAN BUSTS OUT WITH 3-HR EFFORT
Matlack Wins 19th
MONTREAL, Sept. 22 (AP) - Dave Kingman broke out of a 3-for-31 skid by belting
three home runs and driving in six to lead the New York Mets to a 9-3 victory
over the Montreal Expos at Jarry Park. Kingman is the only player in the
major leagues to hit three home runs in a game twice this season; the other
occurrence was on May 23, also against the Expos at Jarry Park. Kingman
had hit only three home runs and driven in eight since returning from a stint of
nearly six weeks on the disabled list on August 28, but nearly doubled those
totals in a single game in Montreal.
The Mets effectively put the game away before the second inning concluded.
In the first, New York plated a pair of runs when Expos starter Larry Landreth
walked four consecutive batters with two outs; the four straight free passes
ties a major league high for futility this year and is the fourth time this
month that a big league hurler has issued four consecutive bases on balls.
In the second inning, the Mets drove Landreth from the mound before Kingman
delivered the coup de grace. With one out, Lee Mazzilli singled and stole
second base. Landreth then walked Felix Millan. It was the fifth
free pass issued by Landreth in the game--compared with four batters retired at
that point. Expos manager Charlie Fox had seen enough and replaced
Landreth with Steve Dunning. Dunning secured the second out of the inning
by inducing John Milner to fly to left but Kingman hammered a 1-1 offering
halfway up the left field bleachers, just inside the foul pole, for a three-run
home run and a 5-0 Mets lead. It was Kingman's 30th long ball of the
campaign.
The outcome of the game was never really in doubt at that point. New York
made it 6-0 in the fourth when Millan and Milner opened the fourth inning with
back-to-back two-baggers. The Expos finally dented the scoreboard against
Mets starter Jon Matlack on a two-run sixth inning single off the bat of Ellis
Valentine.
Kingman hammered his second home run of the game leading off the seventh inning
against Expos reliever Joe Kerrigan, giving the Mets a 7-2 lead. In the
ninth, after Dale Murray had walked Milner, Kingman picked on the first pitch he
saw and blasted his third home run of the day, this one deep into the
left-center field bleachers, to make the score 9-2.
Del Unser's two-out double in the bottom of the ninth plated Larry Parrish with
a consolation run for the Expos, accounting for the 9-3 final.
Matlack struck out nine batters before being lifted with two outs in the eighth
inning, en route to his 19th win of the year. The New York lefty is
expected to have two opportunities to join teammate Tom Seaver, along with Randy
Jones of the Padres and Steve Carlton of the Phillies, as 20-game winners in the
National League.
9/22/1976, NYN76-Mon76, Parc Jarry 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1976 Mets 2 3 0 1 0 0 1 0 2 9 9 0 8 1 1976 Expos 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 3 10 0 7 1 Mets AB R H BI AVG Expos AB R H BI AVG Mazzilli cf 4 2 2 0 .279 Rivera lf 2 0 0 0 .258 Millan 2b 4 2 1 0 .299 Taylor,C p 0 0 0 0 .000 Milner 1b 4 1 1 1 .293 Morales,Jo ph 1 0 0 0 .342 Kingman rf 4 4 3 6 .224 Thornton 1b 1 0 0 0 .181 Boisclair lf 4 0 1 0 .261 Jorgensen ph 1 0 0 0 .243 Stearns c 3 0 0 1 .291 Foli ss 4 1 1 0 .265 Lockwood p 0 0 0 0 .375 Frias ss 0 0 0 0 .242 Phillips ss 4 0 1 1 .226 Dawson cf 4 1 3 0 .200 Staiger 3b 5 0 0 0 .214 Valentine,E rf 4 0 2 2 .289 Matlack p 2 0 0 0 .208 Williams,E 1b 3 0 0 0 .209 Apodaca p 0 0 0 0 .000 Kerrigan p 0 0 0 0 .500 Hodges c 0 0 0 0 .273 Roenicke ph 0 0 0 0 .279 34 9 9 9 Garrett,W ph 1 0 0 0 .205 Murray,D p 0 0 0 0 .000 Parrish 3b 3 1 0 0 .220 Mackanin 2b 3 0 1 0 .211 Cromartie ph 1 0 1 0 .282 Foote c 4 0 1 0 .253 Landreth p 0 0 0 0 .000 Dunning p 1 0 0 0 .133 Unser ph 3 0 1 1 .270 36 3 10 3 Mets INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Matlack W 19-6 7.2 8 2 1 0 9 91 71 2.33 Apodaca 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 5 4 2.14 Lockwood 1.0 2 1 1 0 0 11 8 2.40 9.0 10 3 2 0 9 107 83 Expos INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Landreth L 0-2 1.1 2 4 4 5 2 53 24 8.59 Dunning 3.2 5 2 2 1 3 56 36 4.01 Taylor,C 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 8 5 5.15 Kerrigan 2.0 1 1 1 2 0 30 18 5.63 Murray,D 1.0 1 2 2 2 0 14 6 5.25 9.0 9 9 9 10 5 161 89 NYN: Hodges inserted at c in the 9th Mon: Unser batted for Dunning in the 5th Unser moved to lf in the 6th Morales,Jo batted for Taylor,C in the 6th Thornton inserted at 1b in the 7th Roenicke batted for Kerrigan in the 8th Garrett,W batted for Roenicke in the 8th Frias inserted at ss in the 9th Cromartie batted for Mackanin in the 9th Jorgensen batted for Thornton in the 9th 2B-Mazzilli(3), Millan(29), Milner(20), Unser(28). HR-Kingman 3(32). RBI-Milner(62), Kingman 6(74), Stearns(9), Phillips(18), Valentine,E 2(29), Unser(52). SB-Mazzilli(2). K-Milner, Stearns, Phillips, Matlack 2, Rivera, Dawson, Valentine,E 2, Parrish, Mackanin, Foote, Dunning, Unser. BB-Mazzilli, Millan, Milner, Kingman, Boisclair, Stearns 2, Phillips, Matlack 2. HBP-Parrish. PB-Stearns. HB-Lockwood. GWRBI: Stearns Temperature: 65, Sky: clear, Wind: right to left at 23 MPH. Attendance: 3,694 Game Time: 2:29