Mike Piazza won a Hall-of-Fame matchup on this date — Aug. 9 — in 2006. Then again, the Padres’ 37-year-old catcher had always had quite a bit of success against Pedro Martinez.
Two of Piazza’s six home runs off Martinez arrived in a 4-3 loss at Shea Stadium in his second game in New York after leaving via free agency on a one-year, $2 million deal.
For his career, Piazza hit .385/.407/1.115 across 27 plate appearances against the Mets’ ace.
“He’s strong like a mule,” Martinez said after only allowing Piazza’s homers in 7 1/3 innings in the win.