The San Diego Padres had won 188 straight games when leading after eight innings. The New York Mets hadn’t won in three games. Both streaks, one long-term and one short, ended with a swing by Mike Piazza — a game-winning two-run ninth-inning homer to turn a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 walk-off victory.
Everything pointed to Trevor Hoffman, who converted on 53 of his 54 save opportunities in 1998, being his typically invincible self once again — especially against a Mets team that had failed to capitalize on several scoring chances throughout the game. Not only did New York leave 12 runners on base, but the small lead they generated was squandered by an otherwise reliable bullpen.
San Diego tied it at two in the eighth on a double by hitting wizard Tony Gwynn then took the lead on an RBI hit by Phil Nevin. Both runs came against Armando Benitez, who hadn’t allowed an opponent to score in his first 9.2 innings as a Met reliever.
Hoffman came in to protect the 3-2 Padre advantage in the ninth, but gave up a lead-off single to John Olerud. That brought up Piazza, the greatest hitting catcher ever who could go with any pitch — even to the opposite field — and with power. He was stuck in a 1-for-13 slump since coming off the disabled list a few days earlier. But on the first pitch, a high outside fastball, it was classic Piazza.
As it sailed over the right-center field fence with Shea Stadium in a frenzy, he raised both arms with the bat in his left hand.
It was the first time the Padres lost a game after leading through eight innings since July 24, 1996, a credit primarily due to Hoffman — the premier closer in the National League and a future Hall-of-Famer.
“Most of the time he’ll get the best of me,” Piazza said the closer who’d tally over 600 career saves. “I’ll enjoy this one. They are few and far between against him.”
The Mets held a 2-1 lead on the strength of an Olerud home run in the first and Edgardo Alfonzo‘s RBI double in the fourth. Al Leiter protected the lead by holding the Padres to just four hits and a run over seven innings, but his offense couldn’t build on it. The Mets loaded the bases in the fourth inning against Padres starter Sterling Hitchcock only to come up empty. New York also threatened in the fifth and sixth. But all the missed chances were forgotten once Piazza made contact on Hoffman’s ninth-inning pitch.
