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Hit The Sac

A Hernandez and a Fernandez now share the Mets club record for sacrifices in a game.

Livan got the job done in more ways than one (won?) on Saturday. Sir Sidney was the master on the mound and at bat 22 years prior.

The Mets hosted the Astros in a doubleheader on July 24, 1987 and the opener was a rather appealing mound matchup between Sid Fernandez and Nolan Ryan, though the latter was riding a six-game losing streak, and the former was struggling as well.

The Astros took a 1-0 lead on Glenn Davis' home run on a 3-0 pitch, but the Mets evened the score in the third, when a Fernandez bunt moved Bill Almon to second, and Almon would score on a Wally Backman single.

Fernandez set up the Mets second run with his second sacrifice, this one advancing Almon in the fifth inning, just prior to an RBI single by Len Dykstra.

The Mets had two chances to pad the lead, but double plays killed a pair of rallies, including one that came after Fernandez dropped his third successful sacrifice of the day, a Mets club record that earned mention in the last line of the New York Times game story.

The Astros eighth-inning defense was as pourous as the Marlins, as the Mets added three insurance runs, with a pair coming on back-to-back errors by Davis and Bill Doran. That gave Fernandez and Roger McDowell the wiggle room they needed to get through a dicey ninth, in which Houston brought the tying run to the plate. The Astros scored once, but the Mets were 5-2 winners.

They'd take the second game too behind five hits from Dave Magadan and four RBI from Tim Teufel. Those stole the headlines from Fernandez, at least until this Saturday night.

True Metcrifices know...Livan Hernandez had the 167th regular-season multi-sacrifice game in Mets history.

Livan's three sacrifices tied a career-high, previously set against the Astros on June 17, 2000.

The Mets club record for career sacrifices is 85, shared by Dwight Gooden and Tom Seaver.

Felix Millan holds the single-season mark with 24 sacrifices in 1974.

Hernandez's three sacrifices are one more than Johan Santana had all of last season.

Hernandez's three sacrifices are one more than Keith Hernandez had in his entire Mets tenure. Hernandez had two with the Mets in 1983, then never had another in his MLB career.

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