New York Daily News - April 23, 1980
Late lightning hits Mets again; Phils, down 8-3, rally to win 14-8
By Jack Lang
PHILADELPHIA – In another blowup that sent shock waves throughout the clubhouse, the Mets dissipated a 8-3 lead and fell to the Phillies 14-8 at Veterans Stadium last night. Jeff Reardon served up the home run to Greg Luzinski that tied the score and Kevin Kobel was the victim when the Phils broke an 8-8 tie with six runs in the eighth.
Mike Schmidt hammered two homers, including a grand slam in the eighth.
Keith Moreland, a pinch-hitter, drove a two-run double over Steve Henderson's head in left to knock in the tie-breaking runs. A more adept outfielder than Henderson almost surely would have caught the ball, but Henderson was befuddled by it and had it drop behind him on the warning track.
It did not start out as a very encouraging game for the Mets when Schmidt homered off the facade of the press box level in left field. It was his third of the season and gave the Phils a 2-0 edge, coming as it did after a ground rule double by Garry Maddox.
THE METS HAD BEEN deprived of a possible run in the top half of the inning when Larry Bowa dove behind second and got a forceout while taking a hit away from Lee Mazzilli. Mazzilli, after being robbed. stole second only to be stranded there when Joel Youngblood fanned.
But in the second, the Mets enjoyed their biggest inning of the season when they sent 11 men to the plate against Dick Ruthven and Scott Munninghoff and scored six of them. In the inning there were eight hits and only Tom Hausman's DP grounder prevented them from scoring even more.
It all began with a Steve Henderson single followed by a walk to Jerry Morales. Elliott Maddox caught Garry Maddox playing too shallow in center and drove one over his head for a two-run double.
Flynn followed with a bloop single to right and Maddox had no alternative but to stop at second rather than test Bake McBride's gun. Then when Hausman bounced to Schmidt at third, Maddox had to hold again as Mike started a double play.
The next five batters all hit safely as the Mets went on to score four more runs and drive Ruthven from the mound.
FRANK TAVERAS DOUBLED in Maddox with a drive in the left-center gap and came home himself, when Stearns singled up the middle. When Mazzilli singled to right, Stearns went to third and Dallas Green went to the mound, to relieve his battered starter. It was the Mets' earliest KO of a pitcher this year.
Young Munninghoff, a rookie, relieved and was greeted by singles by Youngblood and Henderson for two more runs before Morales hit into a force to end the rout.
Munninghoff got his first major league at-bat in the bottom of the third and drilled an opposite-field triple inside first delighting the crowd that had little to cheer about op to that point. Pete Rose got the run home with a long sacrifice fly.
Mazzilli's 12th walk in 11 games became the Mets seventh run in the fourth when Youngblood doubled him to third and Henderson delivered a sacrifice fly. Before the inning was over, Morales broke an 0-for-14 slump with another single that made it 8-3.
BUT HAUSMAN COULDN'T hold the big lead. He gave back another run in the fourth on a single by Greg Luzinski, a double by Bob Boone and Bowa's sac fly. Then he failed the survive the fifth and messed up whatever chance he had of winning his first game.
In that inning, the Phils came up with four runs to tie the score, three of them coming on a monstrous home run by Luzinski into the brown mezzanine seats in dead center.