Remembering Mets History (1968) Nolan Ryan Strikes Out 14 Reds

Tuesday May 14th, 1968: Tonight, the Mets young fireball pitcher Nolan Ryan would have a big night. Ryan was only 21 years old & just eight games into his Hall of Fame career at this point.

Tonight, he would strike out 14 batters, which of course was the highest total up to that point in his young career. He would have double figures in strikeouts over a hundred times in his career. It was also a Mets franchise record up to that point.

Jerry Koosman & Tom Seaver were also just starting out their brilliant careers for the pitching rich Mets of the late sixties.

Gil Hodges Mets (13-16) hosted Dave Bristol's Cincinnati Reds (14-16) in front of 15,671 fans on a cool night at Shea Stadium.

Nolan Ryan began the game by striking out Pete Rose & then the number two hitter, Alex Johnson. In the 2nd, Ryan struck out that year's Rookie of the Year, Johnny Bench. 

In the 3rd inning, he didn't record a strike out, but git two in the 4th inning. He also gave up a HR to Tony Perez that inning.

In the 5th, he struck out Leo Cardenas & then Mel Queen. After issuing a walk to Rose, he struck out Alex Hohnson again to end the inning.

In the 6th inning. he struck out Tony Perez, but this time served up a HR to Lee May.  He didn't record any K's in the 7th inning. In the 8th after giving up a lead off single, he mowed down the next three Reds with two swinging strike outs & getting Vada Pinson looking.

Ryan then struck out Lee May & Johnny Bench to start out the 9th inning, making it 5 k's in a row. He ended the game, getting Tommy Helms to line out to left, earning his 4th win.

In 1968, Ryan went 6-9 with a 3.09 ERA, he struck out 133 batters in 134 innings of work but also walked 75 batters. His 14 Ks on this day was his season high, as he would have four double digit strike out games on the year.

The Mets scoring all took place in the 3rd inning, coming against starter, Milt Pappas. With one out, Ryan himself began the rally with a single, Bud Harrelson followed with another single. Ken Boswell then lined out for the second out. Art Shamsky then tripled scoring Ryan & Harrelson. Ron Swoboda added an RBI base hit of his own, giving Ryan all he needed in the 3-2 win.

Trivia: The Reds pitcher that day, Milt Papas had been traded from the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for Hall of Famer, Frank Robinson. Robinson would contribute to the mighty Oriole teams of the late sixties & early seventies.

Papas had won 15 or more games four time for the Orioles, but in three years in Cincinatti, had only one winning season going 16-11.  He moved on the Chicago Cubs where he won 17 games twice & threw a no hitter in 1972.