David Cone saved his sharpest stuff for the final day of the 1991 season, and the Mets gave him a little room to work with early. On October 6, with New York already up 3-0, a leadoff triple and a double opened the scoring, and the Mets rolled to a 7-0 win over the Philadelphia Phillies to close a frustrating year.
The result mattered less than the show Cone put on. In what would be his last season-ending appearance for the Mets before he was traded the following August, he matched the franchise record with 19 strikeouts.
Cone came out missing bats right away. He struck out the side in the first inning, though he also issued his only walk of the game to the second hitter he faced. A leadoff double in the third ended the no-hit bid before it could really gain traction, but Cone answered by punching out three more Phillies hitters.
From there, the strikeouts kept stacking up: one more in the third, three in the fourth, two in the fifth to reach 10, then three in the sixth around a single. He worked through the seventh by getting the side to put three balls in the air, then added two strikeouts in each of the last two innings to reach 19. Dale Murphy grounded out on a 2-1 pitch to end it.
The total tied Tom Seaver for the most strikeouts by a Mets pitcher in one game, though it still fell short of the major league record for a nine-inning outing. That mark belonged to Roger Clemens, who set it in 1986 and matched it again in 1996. Kerry Wood, Randy Johnson, and Max Scherzer later reached the same number.
Cone’s game also invites comparison with Seaver’s 19-strikeout performance in 1970. Seaver’s outing came in a 2-1 Mets win after he gave up a home run to start the second inning. He finished by striking out the last 10 hitters he faced, and the first and last names in that run were both Al Ferrara - the same Ferrara who hit the homer off him.
For Mets fans who want to revisit Cone’s performance, the full game is available on YouTube.
Philadelphia’s Kim Baptiste struck out four times in four trips, and the only starter in the Phillies lineup who avoided a strikeout was pitcher Andy Ashby, who left after just one plate appearance.
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