July 12, 1980: The Cardinals Rally at Shea

On July 12, 1980, trailing 6-1 after five innings at Shea Stadium in New York, the Cardinals rallied to win the game 8-6 in the twelfth. The rally began in the sixth with a Terry Kennedy rbi, they picked up another run in the seventh when Gary Templeton knocked Ken Oberkfell in from third. Ted Simmons led the eighth off with a home run as the Cardinals closed the gap, with the score 6-4 the team had all the momentum on their side and it would carry over into the next frame. With one out in the ninth, third baseman Mike Phillips found his way to first after an error by the Mets second baseman. Gary Templeton tripled to score Phillips and was knocked in on a sacrifice fly by Leon Durham. Ken Oberkfell gave the Cards their first lead of the day with a triple in the twelfth that brought Terry Kennedy across the dish, before Mike Ramsey knocked him in with a single that gave the Cardinals an insurance run. John Littlefield set the Mets down in the bottom half of the inning to secure the Cardinal comeback winner. The game was a true team effort as they had their backs against the wall early then fought back slowly but surely, to pull off the win. The Cardinals starting pitcher Jim Kaat got rocked, he gave up three runs in the first, two more in third, then another in the fourth before Whitey Herzog went to the pen. The move to the pen was just what the doctor ordered, John Urrea, Don Hood, Kim Seaman, and John Littlefield kept the team in it by pitching eight scoreless innings while the birds pecked their way back. Littlefield pitched the last four innings which earned him a well deserved W. I love games like this one simply because it shows to not give up early, some days a starting pitcher has a rough outing and the team has to pick him up, the Cardinals did exactly that on that day at Shea.

Here's the box score: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN198007120.shtml