9/1 - GAME 1 - Riverfront Stadium
Ron Darling vs Jack Billingham
Mets 9, Reds 7
To start the tournament off Mets manager Bill Keller took a page right out of Davey Johnson's book and decided to give the ball to Yalie Ron Darling in the series opener. Unlike his Game 1 performance in the '86 Series, Darling was very hittable today. Thankfully for "RJ" his opponent, Jack Billingham, was knocked around like a hockey puck. After both teams exchanged solo runs in the 1st New York blew the doors off of Billingham's wagon with a huge 5 run 2nd inning all with 2 out. Mookie Wilson's 2 run homer made it 3-1 and 3 batters later Kevin Mitchell's 3 run blast made it 6-1. Ray Knight's RBI single in the 5th made it 7-1, but the Amazin's never do anything the easy way. Darling, who was rock solid for the first 4 innings was tagged for 4 runs in the bottom of the 5th to make it a 7-5 ballgame. George Foster exacted some sort of revenge against his former mates by leading the inning off with a solo blast. Tony Perez single, but the next two batter made out and Darling looked like he was going to get out without any additional damage. Dave Concepcion's long RBI single to right scored "Doggie". Ken Griffey's RBI single was followed by "Little Joe" Morgan's RBI double, which made it a game once again. "Mex" added an RBI single in the sixth and Mitchell's RBI single in the 8th made it a 4 run lead, which Roger McDowell almost blew in the 9th. New York's sinker ball specialist gave up an RBI single to Morgan and a run scoring ground out to Pete Rose to make it 9-7. Johnny Bench grounded out sharply to Knight at third to end the game.
Mets lead series 1-0
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