Gary Carter delivered two of the most important hits of the 1986 season — both singles. One kept the Mets season alive, sparking the World Series Game 6 rally. The other brought the Mets a win closer to reaching the Fall Classic.
Carter overcame a dreadful 1-for-21 slump to break a 1-1 tie give New York a 3-2 edge in the NLCS against the Houston Astros.
“I kept telling myself, ‘I’m going to come through here,’” he said. “I knew it was just a matter of time. I’m not an .050 hitter.”
While Carter’s slump was pronounced, he wasn’t alone in being the only frustrated Mets hitter. The mystery surrounding Mike Scott‘s scuffed baseballs, which wasn’t so much a mystery if you asked the Mets, was the theme over the first four games. Scott won the opener, 1-0, thanks to 15 strikeouts and helped even the series with another impressive performance.
Game 5, delayed a day by rain, took on a similar tone. Although this time the Houston pitcher dominating New York was Nolan Ryan. Luckily for the Mets, they could counter with Dwight Gooden — 18 years Ryan’s junior.
The generation-spanning mound duel lived up to its billing. Doc overcame nine Astro hits to limit visiting Houston to one run in ten innings, while Ryan yielded two hits and one run over nine. The first thirteen Mets failed to reach base. The fourteenth, Darryl Strawberry, had enough distance and hook to sneak one over the fence in the right-field corner.
A 1–1 stalemate held up for more than six innings. Charlie Kerfeld—the bespectacled, brash and bulky right-hander in his third inning of work—couldn’t maintain his control on a pickoff attempt of Wally Backman. The errant throw allowed Backman to move to second.
Keith Hernandez came up with one out, but never got a chance to hit. With Carter on-deck, Kerfeld intentionally walked Keith Hernandez. If Gary wasn’t incentivized enough, when the two faced each other in Game 3, Kerfeld snared a tracer behind his back and showed Carter the ball before tossing to first base for the out.
The best method of revenge was to do exactly what Gary did on a 3-2 delivery. The weight of a slump evaporated when his grounder this time whistled past Krefeld and into center field. Backman rounded third, beat Billy Hatcher’s throw home, and the Mets took a 3-2 series lead back to Houston.
