Amazin’ Look Back, June 20, 1973: Phillies Sweep Sliding Mets

In a game that could be described as a real seesaw, it was the Phillies who had the final push and the Mets who got bounced for the third straight game, falling 4-3 in front of 24,302 fans at Veterans Stadium. Wayne Twitchell picked up the win for the Phightin’ Phils, while Jon Matlack was on the losing side for the not-so-Amazin’s.
May 29, 2013; Philadelphia, PA, USA; The Philadelphia Phillies mascot the Phillie Phanatic watches the game from the dugout roof during the seventh inning against the Boston Red Sox at Citizens Bank Park. The Phillies defeated the Red Sox 4-3. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports
Philadelphia got a first-inning run off Matlack when Cesar Tovar led off with a single and Greg Luzinski doubled him in three batters later. The Mets’ turn came in the fourth and was started by a leadoff single by Felix Millan. After Rusty Staub struck out, John Milner slashed a triple to right, tying the game for the moment. And it was just a moment, as Ed Kranepool broke the tie with a sac fly to right. Wayne Garrett added punctuation to the big inning with a solo home run that made it 3-1.
Matlack got through the fourth just fine and seemed to weather a storm in the fifth when, after Bob Boone singled to lead off, he got Larry Bowa to ground into a force out and took a sac bunt from Wayne Twitchell. However, he hit Tovar with a pitch to put two runners on, and three straight singles from Terry Harmon, Willie Montanez, and Luzinski plated three straight runs to put the Phillies back up, 4-3.
That was it for the scoring, as Matlack lasted one more inning before handing the ball to Tug McGraw for a couple scoreless frames. Twitchell then settled in for the long haul, allowing just one more hit (a harmless Garrett single in the sixth) en route to the complete-game victory and the sweep.
The starting lineups for today’s game looked like this:
New York Mets
Philadelphia Phillies
1
CF1
CF2
2B2
2B3
RF3
1B4
1B4
LF5
LF5
3B6
3B6
RF7
SS7
C8
C8
SS9
P9
P
The promise of the Mets’ five-game winning streak has been squandered already, as the team has fallen back to 28-32, good for fourth place in the NL East and eight and a half back of the Cubs. Yogi and company will look to get back on track tomorrow as they travel to Pittsburgh to face the Pirates.
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