June 8, 1969, San Diego: Mets 3, Padres 2 (box score)
In their finale with the Mets at San Diego Stadium, the Padres faced young phenom Tom Seaver for the first time. Seaver entered the contest with a fine 8-3 record and 2.51 ERA. The Padres countered with Al Santorini, who came in with a 3-2 record and 2.03 ERA.
The Padres drew first blood in this one. Chris Cannizzaro led off the third inning with a double to left-center. After Santorini and Tommy Dean struck out, John Sipin singled on a grounder back to the box. Cannizzaro scored and Sipin took second courtesy of a Seaver error on the play. San Diego then loaded the bases for Al Ferrara, who whiffed to end the frame.
The next inning, Ed Spiezio led off with a home run to extend the Padres’ lead to 2-0. Seaver then proceeded to strike out the side, setting the tone for the rest of his performance.
The Padres clung to their lead until the seventh, when New York started chipping away. In that inning, a two-out single off the bat of Ed Kranepool cut the home team’s lead in half. Then in the eighth, the Mets’ Tommie Agee chased Santorini with a run-scoring double that tied the game. Billy McCool entered the contest and served up a single to Wayne Garrett that gave New York its first and only lead of the night.
Right-hander Ron Taylor worked the final two innings to seal the deal. He retired six of the seven batters he faced and handed the Padres their third straight loss in front of 8,568 fans.
Trivia: Seaver finished the game with 14 strikeouts in 7 innings. Remarkably, this wasn’t close to being his highest strikeout total against the Padres. Less than a year later, on April 22, 1970, Tom Terrific would fan 19 San Diego batters, including a big-league record 10 consecutive to end the game.
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