Mets hitters pull off playoff feat unseen since 2002
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The Mets faced elimination on Friday night at Citi Field as they took on the Dodgers in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series. Not only did New York avoid an end to its exciting postseason run, but it did so in historic fashion.
By not striking out at all in their 44 plate appearances during a 12-6 win over Los Angeles, the Mets became the first team since the 2002 Angels and just the third team in the expansion era (since 1961), to avoid striking out in a postseason game. That Angels lineup from 22 years ago did not strike out in an 11-10 win over the Giants in Game 2 of the World Series.
The only other post-expansion club not to strike out in a playoff contest was the 1974 Pirates in Game 2 of their NLCS against the Dodgers, who won that game and the series. Including pre-expansion, the feat has been achieved just 11 times in the postseason overall.
This was also just the third time in postseason history that a team scored 10-plus runs without striking out, joining those 2002 Angels and the 1960 Pirates, who did not strike out in their 10-9 Game 7 victory -- won on Bill Mazeroski's walk-off home run (Yankees hitters did not have a single strikeout in that game, either). The last time the Mets struck out zero times in a game came back in May of 2010 in a regular-season matchup against the Phillies.
For a team that had been limited to just two combined runs over the two previous games in the series, the Mets finally broke out of their offensive slump. Starling Marte led the way with four hits, including three doubles, and Pete Alonso crushed a three-run homer to center field in the first inning to open the scoring.
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This year’s Mets will hope to follow in the 2002 Angels’ footsteps in more ways than one. That Angels club trailed San Francisco in the World Series, 3-2 -- the same position in which the Mets find themselves as they head to Dodger Stadium for Game 6 of the NLCS on Sunday.
The 2002 Angels won Game 6 and Game 7. If the ’24 Mets can do the same, they’ll keep alive their dream of winning the franchise’s first World Series championship in 38 years.