Remembering Mets History (1980) The Pat Zachry- Ron Cey Bench Clearing Brawl

Tuesday June 10th, 1980: A small Shea crowd of 14,759 came out to see the Joe Torre's fourth place Mets (23-27) host Tommy Lasorda's first place Los Angeles Dodgers (32-22).

The Dodgers were holding a half game lead over the Hoston Astros who would eventually win their first divisional title that season.

Joe Torre's Mets were in fourth place Mets under .500 at 24-27. They would remain around the .500-mark util mid-August then a seven-game losing streak, in a stretch where they lost 14 of 17 games killed any chances of a .500 finish.

The Mets sent pitcher Pat Zachry (1-2) who had come over in the Tom Seaver trade in 1977 to the mound going up against L.A.'s Bob Welch (5-2). The young Bob Welch, who was in the league for three years at that point, was having his bests season to date. He would go 14-9 in that year.

In the top of the 1st, Zachry retired the side in order. In the bottom of the inning, Bob Welch hit Steve Henderson with two outs, then Henderson was caught stealing to end the inning.

In the top of the 2nd, Pat Zachry served up back-to-back HRs to Dodger sluggers, Steve Garvey & Dusty Baker. The next batter was Dodger third baseman, Ron Cey. 

Zachry wasted no time, he drilled Cey in the hip with a pitch, after taking exception to the back-to-back HRs as well as the attitude that went along with it. Needless to say, Ron Cey charged the mound & tackled Zachry at the knees. Both benches cleared & everyone was on the field in a classic bench clearing brawl. 

It was a strange scene, considering Zachry looked more like a fisherman than an angry baseball player, but never underestimate appearances. After order was restored on the field, the umpiring crew of John Kibler, Terry Tata, Dick Stello & Bruce Froemming decided only Ron Cey was to be ejected from the game. 

In the top of the 4th inning, Dusty Baker hit another HR off Zachry, a two-run shot, making it 4-0 Dodgers. Pat Zachry would pitch four innings overall, allowing four runs, three of them on HRs. He gave up five hits, struck out two &walked nobody. was relieved by Tom Hausman in the 5th inning.

The Mets answered & had a big bottom of the 4th inning. They would send nine men to the plate, collecting four base hits, drawing two walks & scoring four runs. Lee Mazzilli & Frank Tavares led off the inning with base hits. 

Then Steve Henderson drew a walk to load the bases.  Mets catcher, John Stearns singled up the middle bringing in Mazzilli & Tavares making it a 4-2 game. Joel Youngblood's sac fly made it a one run, 4-3 game.

Next for the Mets, Mike Jorgensen drew a walk. Elliott Maddox hit a sac fly, scoring John Stearns with the tying run. 

In the bottom of the 6th inning with Welch still pitching, he got the first two outs. Then Mike Jorgensen singled & Eliott Maddox walked. Mets second baseman Doug Flynn then singled as well, bringing in Jorgensen in what was to be the game winning run. 

For the Mets, Tom Hausman pitched five innings of shutout ball in relief, earning the win to go to 2-1. Bob Welch took the loss for L.A. getting to 6-2.