Amazin’ Look Back – April 29th, 1973: Mets Ride Koosman Past Braves

Jerry Koosman turned in his third consecutive complete game and first shutout of the season as the Mets took a nail-biter of a game, and the series, from the Atlanta Braves by the score of 1-0. Koosman picked up his fourth straight win, while Carl Morton took the hard-luck loss for the home team.

June 05, 2011; Flushing, NY, USA; The New York Mets logo behind home plate before a game against the Atlanta Braves at Citi Field. The Mets defeated the Braves 6-4. Mandatory Credit: Andrew B. Fielding-USA TODAY Sports

Koosman kept the Atlanta crowd of 12,152 quiet all afternoon, allowing just four hits and a walk while striking out four. Hammerin’ Hank Aaron stayed stuck on 678 home runs and the Braves couldn’t get a man into scoring position, grounding into a couple of double plays during the rare instances when they had any runners on.

Jerry Grote drove in the lone run of the game in the top of the second inning. Ed Kranepool hit a one-out single off Morton, and Wayne Garrett followed with one of his own to advance Kranepool to third. Grote then hit a long fly ball to center field that was deep enough to score Kranepool and put New York up. Kranepool and George Theodore each had two hits for the victorious Mets.

The starting lineups for today’s game looked like this:

New York Mets

Atlanta Braves

CF1

3B2

2B2

CF3

LF3

RF4

RF4

2B5

1B5

1B6

3B6

LF7

SS8

SS9

The Mets finished the first month of the 1973 campaign with a solid 12-8 record, good enough for a first-place tie with the Chicago Cubs atop the National League East.

Next Up:

After a couple of days off, the team will return home to Shea Stadium to host their Western rivals: the Big Red Machine of Cincinnati.

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