METS WIN, 7 TO 4, AS FREGOSI STARS

Jim Fregosi went to the movies yesterday and then drove in five runs with a single and a homer as the Mets continued their thrust back toward first place with a 7‐4 victory over Pittsburgh.

The victory, their second in less than 24 hours over the Pirates, left the Mets in relatively good condition in the Eastern Division race—only one game behind the visitors — but in relatively poor condition on their injury report.

The Mets, already hampered by Rusty Staub's sore right hand and the pulled muscles of Willie Mays and John Milner, lost Tommie Agee, probably for a minimum of a few days, with a pulled groin muscle and watched Cleon Jones continue to suffer with his sore elbow.

The elbow, in fact, has been giving Jones so much trouble that it probably will be the factor that convinces Manager Yogi Berra to return Jones to left field and try Milner at first base.

While shaking his head and muttering about the latest physical misfortunes, Berra rejoiced at Fregosi's emergence from a five‐week batting slump.

The third baseman, who had driven in only two runs in his previous 26 games, singled home two men in the first inning for a 2‐0 lead and socked Bob Miller's first relief pitch for a three‐run homer in the seventh, breaking a 4‐4 tie.

Fregosi's best day as a Met came after a visit to the movies. He didn't see “The Godfather” but a film of himself batting against the Pirates Monday night.

It seems that before the game both Eddie Yost, the Met coach, and Ralph Kiner, the Met announcer, independently suggested to Fregosi that his batting troubles stemmed from his position in the batter's box. He apparently was standing too far from the plate.

Kiner had made the observation himself, while Yost, lying in bed the night before, recalled something he had been told in spring training.

“Vince Orlando, the visiting clubhouse guy in Boston, told me Fregosi is a better hitter when he's close to the plate,” Yost related. “I never thought of telling Jimmy at the time because he has his own ideas about hitting. But recently he's been going so bad that when Orlando's tip came back to me last night, I figured I might as mention it to him.”

Fregosi was skeptical of the diagnosis at first, but then he decided he'd have Billy Connors, the Mets’ film impresario, show him movies of himself.

“I couldn't believe how far away I was from the plate,” Fregosi said afterward. “Where I was standing I couldn't see what the pitches were doing.”

Standing about as close to the plate as he could without becoming a left‐handed batter, Fregosi had an excellent view of Bruce Kison's pitch with the bases loaded in the first and Miller's with two on and one out in the seventh.

Luke Walker got the first out in the seventh and appeared to have the second, too, when Milner lofted a routine fly to center field. But in running in a few steps for the ball, Al Oliver slipped on the wet grass and fell on his back. Oliver desperately reached backward, hoping the ball would drop into his glove, but it fell a few feet away and Milner wound up with a triple.

Walker then walked Jones intentionally and Miller came on and promptly gave up his first homer of the season.

Pirates Take Lead

The Pirates had taken a 4‐2 lead on Richie Hebner's tworun homer and Oliver's homer and sacrifice fly, but the Mets rallied for the tie in the sixth on Jerry Grote's run‐scoring single and Milt May's passed ball.

Agee was injured while running after Oliver's sacrifice fly in the sixth. That gave the Mets an even split on the slippery outfield grass because Agee blamed his muscle injury on the soft turf.

“I pulled it pretty good,” the center fielder said. “I won't know until tomorrow or the next day how I feel. I don't feel good now.”

Jones didn't feel good about the elbow that he injured June 16 in Cincinnati. Berra kept asking him during the game if it was bothering him, but the first baseman kept saying it was okay.

However, after Jones fumbled a grounder for an error in the ninth, Berra went out to first base, talked with Jones for a moment and replaced him with Jim Beauchamp for the last two outs.

Berra's move was reminiscent of the action Gil Hodges took during a game in 1969, when he walked out to left field to replace Jones, whom he felt was loafing on defense. But Jones said there was no similarity in the two situations.

“I didn't think about that [the Hodges incident] until I saw you guys coming,” Jones said. “When he [Yogi] came out, I knew what he was going to say and I was ready for him. He had asked me about it right before I went out for the inning.”

Berra said he had told Jones, “You better come out of these: there's no sense staying in and hurting it more.”

Berra indicated Jones might be returning home soon.

E—Jones. DP—Pittsburgh 2, Mets 1. LOB—Pittsburgh 3, Mets 8. 2B—Cash 2. 30—Mll. ner. HRS—Hebner (8), Oliver (7), Fregosl (4). S—DavalIllo. SF—Oliver.

HBP—KIson (Marshall). PB—May. T2:34. A‐38,152.