Attempting to hit a home run at the most urgent point in the most crucial game of the season, Terry Pendleton had the presence of mind to make an adjustment in the middle of his at-bat and accomplished his mission.
Delivering one of the most improbable home runs in franchise lore, Pendleton revived the Cardinals and deflated the Mets.
On Sept. 11, 1987, Pendleton hit a two-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning against Roger McDowell, tying the score. The Cardinals won in the 10th, a victory that propelled them on a path to a National League pennant.
“A big morale boost for us,” second baseman Tommy Herr said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “We got some of the spunk back that we had early in the season.”
Tight race
The 1987 Cardinals entered September in first place in the NL East Division, 5.5 games ahead of the second-place Mets.
However, the Mets, defending World Series champions, appeared to have regained their swagger as they opened a three-game series with the Cardinals at New York’s Shea Stadium. The Cardinals had lost three in a row, and four of their last five, and their lead had shrunk to 1.5 games ahead of the Mets.
Game 1 of the series matched John Tudor of the Cardinals against Ron Darling of the Mets. Before a raucous crowd of 51,795, the Mets scored three in the first against Tudor and carried a 4-1 lead into the ninth. A victory would move the Mets to within a half-game of the Cardinals and put them in position to secure first place with a series sweep.
The Cardinals were held to one hit through eight innings. Vince Coleman got a bunt single in the sixth. Darling, trying to field the ball, stumbled, attempted to break his fall with his right hand and jammed his thumb, tearing ligaments.
The injury foreshadowed the trouble to come in the ninth.
Handling heat
McDowell, the third Mets pitcher in the game, worked a scoreless eighth.
In the ninth, he walked the first batter, Ozzie Smith. Herr grounded out to first, with Smith moving to second. Dan Driessen struck out.
“It didn’t look very good,” Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog said.
McDowell got ahead in the count, 1-and-2, to the next batter, Willie McGee. With the Mets one strike away from victory, the crowd rocked the stadium.
“I wasn’t really worried about the pressure,” McGee said to the Hartford Courant. “When you’ve been there after a while, you learn how to deal with it.”
McGee swung at a pitch up in the strike zone and grounded a single into center field, driving in Smith and making the score 4-2.
Pendleton plan
Next up was Pendleton. He hadn’t hit a home run in a month _ Aug. 11 versus the Pirates _ and McDowell hadn’t yielded a home run in more than a month.
Yet, Pendleton went to the plate with the intent of hitting a home run.
“That’s all I was thinking,” Pendleton said. “I knew that’s what we needed.”
The first pitch from McDowell was a sinker. Pendleton grounded it foul.
“So I decided to move up (in the batter’s box) a little bit and see if I could catch one before it sank,” Pendleton said.
McDowell threw another sinker. “It was down,” McDowell said. “I thought it was a pretty good sinker.”
Pendleton connected with the pitch before it dipped too low and drove it to straightaway center. Center fielder Mookie Wilson moved back toward the wall. “I knew he hit it well,” Wilson said, “but the wind was blowing in.”
The ball carried over the wall at the 410-foot mark for a two-run home run, tying the score at 4-4 and stunning the crowd.
“He is not a home run hitter,” Mets first baseman Keith Hernandez said, “but that’s what it called for _ and he got it. He probably got the biggest hit of the year for them. If they win it, that will be the hit that did it.” Video
David Green followed with a double, but Tom Pagnozzi struck out, ending the Cardinals’ half of the ninth.
Ken Dayley, the Cardinals’ fifth pitcher of the game, held the Mets scoreless in the bottom of the ninth.
Wakeup call
Mets manager Davey Johnson brought in Jesse Orosco to pitch the 10th. With one out, the Cardinals got consecutive singles from Coleman, Smith and Herr. Coleman scored on Herr’s hit, giving the Cardinals the lead. Driessen grounded out, scoring Smith from third and putting St. Louis ahead, 6-4.
Dayley retired the Mets in order in the 10th, sealing the win and sending the Mets reeling. Boxscore
“It was another chance for us to go for the jugular and we weren’t able to do it,” said Hernandez, the former Cardinal. “That’s a big, big win for them. It has to be very uplifting.”
Said Pendleton to the Associated Press: “This will wake us up.”
The victory stretched the Cardinals’ lead over the Mets to 2.5 games.
The next day, Sept. 12, the Mets started their ace, Dwight Gooden, against the Cardinals’ Greg Mathews. Herr produced three RBI, Mathews pitched a complete game gem and the Cardinals won, 8-1, extending their lead to 3.5 games. “Doc was wild,” Johnson said of Gooden, “and he didn’t have very good stuff either.”
Said Mets second baseman Tim Teufel: “We had the momentum going into this series and they took it away from us.”
The Cardinals went on to finish 95-67 _ three games ahead of the Mets _ and clinch the division title. They also won the pennant, beating the Giants in the NL Championship Series, before losing to the Twins in a seven-game World Series.
Previously: Top 10 facts about 1987 NL champion Cardinals
RetroSimba 
sept 11 games against the mets are legendary. not mentioned yet is the 9/11/85 game where tudor and gooden matched up for 9 scoreless innings, then orosco replaced gooden and gave up a 10th inning home run to cedeno for a 1-0 win. tudor went all 10, and cards moved into a first place tie for the eastern division with the mets on their way to the nl pennant.
Thanks, Robert. Here is a link to the story on that Cesar Cedeno home run to beat the Mets in 1985: https://retrosimba.com/2015/08/24/cesar-cedeno-and-his-amazing-month-with-cardinals/
It’s a September series like this that makes a pennant race special. Some interesting facts. Terry hit .389 lifetime against Roger McDowell. Also, the most HR’S Terry hit against any pitcher is four, and the pitcher just happens to be the same Roger McDowell. Next in line is Dwight Gooden. Terry hit three homers against him. Speaking of Gooden, that two inning start the following night, was his shortest outing he would ever have as a New York Met. Just some personal thoughts. It’s a shame the AL had the home field advantage for the WS that year. And not having Jack Clark and Terry Pendleton healthy were death blows.
Thanks for the data on Terry Pendleton vs. Roger McDowell and Dwight Gooden in his career. Good stuff. An ironic side note: Pendleton and McDowell served as coaches together with the Braves from 2006 to 2016.