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Posted: Monday October 18, 1999 12:19 AM
FLUSHING, New York (Ticker) -- Move over, Joe Adcock. Robin Ventura is joining you.
Ventura's bases-loaded blast off Kevin McGlinchy with one out in the bottom of the 15th inning kept alive the New York Mets' season with a classic 4-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves in Game Five of the National League Championship Series.
The Braves were two outs from their fifth trip to the World Series this decade. Instead, they are headed back to Atlanta for Game Six Tuesday against the Mets, who became just the second team in history to force a sixth game after losing the first three. The only other team to accomplish the feat was the Braves last season against San Diego.
Ventura hit a game-winning grand slam off Kevin McGlinchy (0-1) but never made it home as he was mobbed by his teammates between first and second. National League officials, in conjunction with scorer Red Foley, ruled the hit a single.
"As long as I touched first base, we won. So that's fine with me," said Ventura, whose hit was just his second in 19 at-bats in the series. "Maybe tonight, when you guys go home, I might run the bases."
The scenario recalled Adcock, the former Milwaukee Brave who appeared to hit a game-winning homer in an historic 1957 game that featured 12 perfect innings by Pittsburgh's Harvey Haddix. Adcock passed Hank Aaron on the basepaths and instead had to settle for a game-winning double.
The Mets' season appeared over after Keith Lockhart tripled home a run in the top of the 15th off Octavio Dotel to give the Braves a 3-2 lead. However, McGlinchy could not hold the lead.
Shawon Dunston, who misplayed Lockhart's triple, atoned with a leadoff single after fouling off several pitches. Pinch-hitter Matt Franco walked and Edgardo Alfonzo sacrificed before John Olerud -- who hit a two-run homer in the first inning -- was intentionally walked to load the bases.
McGlinchy walked Todd Pratt on five pitches and fell behind the slumping Ventura. He grooved a fastball and Ventura launched it through the steady rain and over the right-field fence.
"I tried to get ahead of him and I couldn't do it," McGlinchy said. "I was the last guy ouy there standing. We had no one left. I hated to be the guy that had to walk off the field at the end."
NL vice president Katy Feeney said the score was changed after a consultation with the Elias Sports Bureau.
"He gets credit for as many bases as he touched," Feeney said.
Pratt, who hit a game-winning homer to close out the Division Series againt Arizona, led the charge toward Ventura, costing his teammate a homer.
"I'll take the blame. I put him over my head," said Pratt, who entered the game in the 14th in place of Mike Piazza, who had a bruised left forearm.
The game took five hours, 46 minutes, the longest game by time in postseason history, topping the record of 5:13 set by the New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners in Game Two of the 1995 American League Division Series.
It was the second-longest LCS game in history in innings. The Mets beat the Houston Astros, 7-6, in 16 innings in Game Six of the 1986 NLCS. The wild affair used 44 players, the most in playoff history.
"I swear I'd have to be in another profession in order to put (this game) into words," said Mets manager Bobby Valentine. "I have no idea."
The Braves had plenty of chances, putting runners in scoring position in nine different innings. The most frustrating frame was the sixth, when Greg Maddux struck out on a botched squeeze attempt, leading to a double play.
Atlanta set an LCS record by leaving 19 men on base, one night after leaving none in Game Four.
Facing elimination, Valentine pulled out all the stops, using a club record nine pitchers and ordering five intentional walks. Valentine used all of his pitchers except Rick Reed and Al Leiter, who started the last two games. Leiter will start on Tuesday night against Kevin Millwood.
The Braves squandered a chance in the top of the 13th inning. Lockhart walked with two outs before Chipper Jones lined a double to right field off Dotel. Lockhart tried to score but was easily gunned down by second baseman Edgardo Alfonzo's relay throw to the plate to Piazza, who survived a collision.
Dotel (1-0) got the win, allowing four hits in three innings.
The Braves used six different pitchers, including Shea Stadium villain John Rocker, who worked 1 1/3 innings and took one more shot at New York fans.
"A majority of the Mets fans aren't human," Rocker said. "The bottom line is that 80 percent of Mets fans are Neanderthal."
"It would have been great if we had gotten to Rocker, but we hung in there and didn't get frustrated," Mets outfielder Darryl Hamilton said.
The Mets opened the scoring with a two-run homer in the first by John Olerud but Atlanta shut them down until the 15th.
Olerud picked up where left off on Saturday, lofting a 2-1 pitch over the right-center field fence that scored Rickey Henderson, who reached on an infield single. Olerud homered and drove in three runs in Game Four.
Mike Piazza added a single, giving the Mets three hits in an inning for the first time this series.
Mets starter Masato Yoshii cruised through the first three innings, yielding just one hit. But he was gone after failing to retire any of the four batters he faced in the fourth.
Bret Boone doubled over the head of left fielder Henderson and scored when Jones sliced a ground ball over the third base bag for a two-base hit. Jordan followed with an RBI single to left field to tie the game.
Yoshii walked Ryan Klesko and was lifted for Orel Hershiser, who ended the threat by striking out Andruw Jones and Eddie Perez and getting Walt Weiss to ground out.
The 41-year-old Hershiser had tossed just one frame since he worked 5 1/3 strong innings in the regular season finale against Pittsburgh on October 3. He would need the extra rest to work out of trouble the next two innings.
Gerald Williams snapped an 0-for-12 drought with one-out double in the fifth. Chipper Jones was intentionally walked with two outs and Jordan struck out.
More trouble awaited Hershiser in the sixth, when the Braves loaded the bases with one out. Maddux battled Hershiser at the plate, barely missing a double with a foul ball down the right-field line.
The Braves tried a squeeze but Maddux bunted through the pitch for strike three. Klesko, running from third, was tagged out in a rundown to complete the double play.
Hershiser struck out five in his third career postseason relief appearance, relishing the chance to pitch in an historic game.
"It's in my top five," said Hershiser. "If we win this series, it will rank up there with (Carlton) Fisk's homer and (Kirk) Gibson's homer. This series is not going to be by decision. It is going to be by knockout."
Hershiser left after hitting Boone with a pitch to open the seventh. The Braves loaded the bases off Turk Wendell and Dennis Cook before Pat Mahomes took over, getting Andruw Jones to fly out.
The Braves threatened in the eighth on a one-out double by Walt Weiss. One out later, Mahomes issued the Mets' fourth intentional walk of the game to Williams before John Franco relieved and retired Lockhart on a grounder.
Maddux allowed just two runs and scattered seven hits in seven innings. The four-time Cy Young Award winner often has struggled when facing the same team twice in the same postseason series, posting a 1-4 mark in six previous starts in those situations. But he was solid today, striking out five without a walk.
"I'm drained and I haven't even pitched for a couple of hours," Maddux said. "But we've been down this road before. We know what it takes to get the job done."
Maddux settled down after the two-run first and faced serious damage in the sixth thanks only to brutal fielding by Klesko. The first baseman made a could not handle a toss from Chipper Jones and made a throwing error of his own to help the Mets loaded the bases with one out before Rey Ordonez grounded into a double play.
Yoshii, the loser in Game Two, has failed to win any of his three postseason starts, allowing eight runs over 13 innings.
Mets outfielder Roger Cedeno, who had three hits on Saturday, was unable to start due to back spasms but entered as a pinch runner in the 15th.
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