Pitcher Roger McDowell sacrificed Santana tosecond, and Joe Sambito came in to pitch forBoston. He walked Mookie Wilson intentionally,then walked Wally Backman to load the bases.Hernandez followed with a sacrifice fly to centerthat chased Sambito, and Bob Stanley got GaryCarter to ground out.
The Mets led 6-3, and they were on their way.
The Mets started poorly in the seventh game asDwight Evans and Gedman hit consecutive homers inthe second inning and Boston jumped to a 3-0 leadoff Ron Darling.
The Mets finally got to Hurst in the sixthinning and tied the score 3-3 with three runs, twoon Hernandez's bases-loaded single.
Hurst had retired 11 in a row and had allowedone hit when the Mets sent up pinch-hitter LeeMazzilli, who singled and scored the tying run inthe eighth inning of Game 6. Mazzilli singled withone out, and Wilson followed with a single thatsent Mazzilli to second.
Hurst then walked Tim Teufel on five pitches toload the bases, bringing up Hernandez, who hadonly one RBI in the previous six games. Hernandeztook one strike, then hit a slicing line driveinto left-center, easily scoring two runs andsending Teufel to third.
Backman then came in to run for Teufel, andCarter hit a little looper into right field. Rightfielder Evans made a dive for the ball, butcouldn't come up with it cleanly. Backman scoredeasily, but when Evans rolled over the ball,Hernandez couldn't clearly tell whether it hadbeen caught. That gave Evans time to throwHernandez out at second for the second out of theinning, and Strawberry lined out to shallow leftfor the third out of the inning.
But the score was 3-3, and the Mets' master ofno-decisions, Darling, was off the hook. Duringthe season, he had 13 decisionless starts and a15-6 record. He had pitched in two World Seriesgames with a 1-1 record, but he was out of thisone in the fourth inning after giving up three RedSox runs in the second.
Hurst, meanwhile, came out for a pinch hitterin the seventh. He worked six innings, giving upthree runs on four hits. The winner of Games 1 and5, he worked a total of 23 innings in the Series,giving up five runs on 18 hits.
The Mets had talked dynasty before they evenwon the pennant, but so what? The Mets' managersaid before the season had even begun that hedidn't come to New York to build a contender, oreven a champion--he wanted a team that woulddominate the game.
Against that backdrop, this was a club that hadto go all the way for any of it to matter