Here is the tenth installment of our periodic feature on the Mets’ 33 one-hitters.

Jon Matlack

July 10, 1973 – New York Mets 2, Houston Astros 0 – Shea Stadium
No-no killed by Tommy Helms’ sixth-inning double

Mets’ southpaw Jon Matlack, who won one game in the ’73 National League Championship Series and started three games (1-2) in the World Series, retired the first 15 batters he faced at Shea this night, and the crowd of nearly 20,000 might have started thinking that it could be the night that the Mets would break the curse.

But Tommy Helms led off the sixth inning with a double, and the Mets’ dubious streak added one more game to reach 1,878. Matlack allowed two more baserunners – both walks – but Duffy Dyer threw out Jim Wynn on a steal attempt and the Mets sent Doug Rader to the bench on a double-play, so Matlack faced just 28 batters – one more than the minimum for a complete game.

Oddly, Matlack’s opponent on the mound, Jerry Reuss, faced just 29 batters during his eight innings of work (the Mets didn’t need to bat in the ninth). That’s an amazing accomplishment considering Reuss gave up six hits and five walks, as he helped turn four 1-4-3 double plays, and Astros’ catcher Skip Jutze threw out two runners at second.

Dyer scored the game’s only run with a third-inning single up the middle to score Rusty Staub.