Just another day for the Miracle Mets

In a little something you do not see every day, the New York Mets sweep the Pittsburgh Pirates in a pair of 1-0 games 56 years ago today at Forbes Field.

Not that the Mets sweeping a doubleheader – or, for that matter, that the Pirates being swept in the doubleheader – is a big deal.

What is a big deal is that in this doubleheader New York’s starting pitchers – the normally light-hitting duo of Jerry Koosman and Don Cardwell – drive in the only runs of their games with a pair of RBI singles off Pittsburgh starters Bob Moose and Dock Ellis, respectively.

Koosman, a lifetime .119 hitter, picks up his RBI on a one-out single to right in the fifth inning of the opener before a Friday night crowd of 19,303 in Pittsburgh.

Cardwell, a career .135 hitter, collects his RBI single with a two-out single to center off Ellis in the second inning of the second game.

In the first game, Koosman allows only three singles – two by future Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente – on his way to a complete game.

Cardwell then allows just four singles in eight innings of the second game before Tug McGraw gives up Matty Alou’s bunt single to start the ninth.

McGraw then retires Gene Alley, future Hall of Famer Willie Stargell and Al Oliver on a strikeout, flyout and groundout to finish off the Pirates for the save and the sweep.

The doubleheader sweep is just part of the Miracle Mets’ 1969 season in which the once-woebegone franchise wins 100 games in the regular season before sweeping the Atlanta Braves in three games of the National League Championship Series and then stunning the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles in five games of the World Series.

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