Remembering Mets History (1989) Doc Gooden Wins His 100th Career Game

Monday June 19th, 1989: Being young & a big Dwight Gooden fan, centerfieldmaz attended this game knowing Dr. K was going for his 100th career victory. It was another of his many milestone games that I was in attendance for at Shea.

On this Monday night Davey Johnson's second place Mets (35-31) were only 1 ½ games behind the division leading Chicago Cubs. 

Their opponent was manager Buck Rogers' third place Montreal Expos, who were just 1/2 game behind the Mets. The Expo starting pitcher was Kevin Gross. As a good crowd of 40,064 came out to Shea for the event. 

Gooden wasn't perfect tonight, as he allowed a 1st inning HR to Andres Galarraga. But the Mets came back quickly, as Howard Johnson hit a two run HR, his 17th of the year in the bottom of the 1st inning.

In the 2nd inning, Dave Magadan drew a walk. Then Howard Johnson homered again, #18 for him, his second two run shot of the game, making it 4-1 Mets. HoJo's numbers were amongst the leagues best sluggers.

In the 4th inning Magadan drove in Juan Samuel  with a base hit for a 5-1 Mets lead.

In the top of the 6th, the Expos put up two runs, as center fielder Dave Martinez doubled to score Spike Owen. Then a Gooden wild pitch eventually scored Martinez, cutting it to a 5-3 Mets lead.

Gooden went seven innings, striking out nine Expos. He allowed three runs on five hits, while walking two. It was enough for a 23-year-old Dwight Gooden to earn his 100th win. 

Rick Aguilera came in relief, in the 8th inning for two perfect innings, earning his sixth save.

The win put Gooden at 9-2 on the year with a 2.56 ERA amongst the league’s best.

Trivia: Unfortunately for the Mets, Gooden wouldn’t win another game for the rest of the season. A shoulder injury shut him down at the start of July. Gooden would not return until September, finishing up at 9-4.

Hojo would enjoy a great season hitting 36 HRs with 101 RBIs & 41 doubles, while leading the league in runs scored with 104.

The Mets missed the playoffs coming in second place, six games behind the Chicago Cubs.