Remembering Mets History (2000) Mike Piazza Drives In Runs In 15 Straight Games Setting Franchise Record

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 June 14th, 2000: On this night, the New York Mets were 35-28 tied with the Colorado Rockies for the wild card lead. The Mets were in Wrigley Field & in the 5th inning, Mike Piazza hit his 17h HR of the year, a two-run shot off the Cubs Daniel Garibay. Piazza would drive in three runs in the Mets 10-8 win & start a franchise record RBI streak.

The next night the Mets moved on to Milwaukee for a three-game series. In the opener Piazza doubled in the 6th inning bringing in two Mets runs, giving them a 6-1 lead. They went on to a 7-1 win as Al Leiter got his eighth win of the season to go to 8-1. 

The next night, Piazza collected two more hits & drove in a run in his third straight game in the Mets 3-2 loss. The Mets took two of three in Milwaukee with a 7-3 win on Sunday. In the game Piazza hit his 16th double of the season & drove in his 50th run of the season.

HRs in Three Straight Games: On Tuesday June 20th, the Mets returned home to Shea for a series with the Phillies. In the bottom of the 1st, Mike Piazza hit a two run HR off Paul Byrd. Mike Hampton held down the Phillies thru eight innings, but Armando Benitez gave up a game tying HR to Pat Burrel & then lost it 3-2 on Mike Liebenthal's RBI single in the 10th.


The next night Piazza hit his 20th HR of the season; a two-run shot off Curt Schilling in the 10-5 Mets loss. After an off day, Piazza returned to hit a three run HR off the Pirates Bronson Arroyo in a 12-3 Mets win at Shea. Piazza had homered in three straight games, his longest HR streak of the season & had driven in at least one run in seven straight games.

Five Straight Multi- RBI Games: On June 24th, the second game of the Pirate series at Shea, Piazza helped lead a Mets comeback in the 7th inning. With Mets down 8-4 Piazza hit a two run double off Rich Loiselle bringing the Mets to within two. Jay Payton would bring home Piazza to make it 8-7. In the 8th Todd Zelie & Edgardo Alfonzo provided RBI doubles for the win. The Mets swept the series on Sunday behind Mike Hampton's 9-0 shut out. Piazza contributed with a two run double for his fifth straight multi-RBI game & ninth straight game with at least one run driven in.



Four Straight Multi- Hit Games: The Marlins came to Shea, & Piazza would have two multi-hit games driving in a run in each game. On June 26th, his RBI single off Reid Cornelius tied his own franchise record of ten straight RBI games.

Franchise Record for Most Consecutive RBI Games: On Wednesday June 28th, in a win over the Marlins at Shea, Piazza was credited with an RBI in the 3rd inning when he grounded to short & Melvin Mora scored. 

His RBI streak extended to eleven straight games, as he broke his own Mets franchise record of ten straight games with an RBI set the previous year.  

Later in the 6th inning, he tied the game up reaching on an error by short stop Andy Fox, as Mike Hampton scored, with Piazza getting credit for another RBI. 

On June 29th the first place rival Atlanta Braves came to Shea, holding a three-game lead over the Mets. The Braves took the first game, with Piazza collecting a two-run single off John Burkett for his 65th RBI of the season & his 12th straight game with an RBI.

HRs in Three Straight Games: The Mets took the next two games to get to within two games of
the Braves, still atop the wild card race. On June 30th, in front of 52,831 at Shea, the Mets came back from a seven-run deficit after being down 8-1. 

In the historic 8th inning, the Mets sent 13 men to the plate, scoring ten runs, collecting six hits with the help of four walks issued by Braves pitching. With the score tied at 8-8 Mike Piazza's three run HR off Terry Mulholland gave New York an 11-8 lead. It was his 22nd HR & 68th RBIs of the season, extending his RBI games streak to 13 games. It was his 22nd HR & 68th RBIs of the season, extending his BI games streak to 13 games.


The next night, Al Leiter held the Braves to a run in seven innings & Turk Wendell shut them out for the final two innings. The Mets put up seven runs off Greg Maddox with Piazza hitting a 2nd inning two run HR in the 9-1 win. 

On July 2nd, as the Mets split the four games with Atlanta, Piazza hit a solo HR off Tom Glavine. It was his third straight game with a HR, matching his season high three straight, he had set just a little over a week ago. It was also his 15th straight game with an RBI, setting a new Mets franchise record.

Trivia: Piazza's 15 games RBI streak was the second longest in MLB history. In 1922 Ray Grimes of the Cubs had driven in at least one run in 17 straight games.

In the 15 games, Piazza collected 22 hits, going 22-63 batting .349 with eight HRs 7 28 RBIs.

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