The Houston Marathon

One of the greatest games in MLB playoff history saw the Mets outlast the Houston Astros in 16 innings, 7-6, to clinch their third National League Pennant. The Mets were nearly blanked as Astros starter Bob Knepper had a two-hit shutout heading into the 9th inning. New York rallied as Lenny Dykstra tripled, Mookie Wilson singled and Keith Hernandez doubled to chase Knepper. Ray Knight’s sacrifice fly off Houston closer Dave Smith tied the game. Roger McDowell tossed five shutout innings in relief and Wally Backman put the Mets ahead in the 14th inning, but the Astros rallied to tie it off Jesse Orosco. In the 16th, Darryl Strawberry doubled, Knight singled and later scored on a wild pitch then Dykstra singled home Backman to put the Mets ahead 7-4. They needed all of the runs as the Astros rallied for two runs before Orosco struck out Kevin Bass with the winning run on base to close the game.