Infinite Cincinnati

1972 World Series: Game 4
CINCINNATI REDS @ OAKLAND ATHLETICS
OCTOBER 19, 1972
TIMELINE 7
GAME LOG
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 R H E
Cincinnati Reds 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 7 2
Oakland Athletics 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 4 6 0
Rudi's 12th-Inning Homer Ends Game 4 Marathon After Tenace Ties It in 9th
Three hours and fifty-seven minutes is a long time to spend at the Oakland Coliseum on a Thursday night in October, the concrete holding the fifty-eight-degree chill the way concrete does, and for most of that duration the game offered the particular tension of two teams trading single blows and then retreating to their corners. McRae's two-out double to left-center in the fourth — struck flush at a hundred miles an hour, splitting the outfielders cleanly — scored Perez and Menke and gave Cincinnati a lead that felt, in the moment, like it might be enough. Holtzman had been wild, walking both runners aboard, and for two innings afterward he pitched as though paying penance for it, setting down six consecutive Reds with a severity that bordered on the personal.

Oakland answered in the fifth through craft rather than power: Tenace walked, Green walked, Holtzman laid down a sacrifice bunt, and Campaneris lined a single up the middle that scored both runners, Green beating the throw from left field. Tied at two, the game seemed to resettle on its axis — and then Menke, leading off the sixth, caught a 2-1 fastball and drove it 374 feet to right for a solo home run that restored Cincinnati's lead. From that point through the eighth inning, nothing. Gullett working on fumes at 104 pitches, Holtzman grinding through his ninth at 117. The silence of a game held together by fingertips.

Tenace broke it open in the bottom of the ninth, fouling off pitch after pitch on a full count against Borbon before pulling a home run 358 feet down the left-field line — not a towering shot but a line drive struck at 107 miles an hour that cleared the wall before anyone could properly react. Three innings of extras followed, each one quiet, each one identical in its refusal to resolve, until Rudi stepped in against Tom Hall in the twelfth and ended it on the first pitch he saw: a solo home run to left, 384 feet, the ball disappearing into the same October dark that has swallowed so many outcomes on this particular night. The game had been, for nearly four hours, a meditation on the insufficiency of one-run leads — and then, suddenly, it wasn't anything at all.
CINCINNATI 1972 BATTING LINESCORE OAKLAND 1972 BATTING LINESCORE
Player AB R H RBI BB K LOB AVG HR RBI
J. Morgan 2B 6 0 0 0 0 0 3 .000 0 0
B. Tolan CF 5 0 0 0 0 1 2 .000 0 0
T. Perez 1B 3 1 2 0 1 0 0 .667 0 0
P. Borbon P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0
b- C. Geronimo PH 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0
T. Hall P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0
J. Bench C 4 0 0 0 1 1 2 .000 0 0
D. Menke 3B 4 2 1 1 1 2 2 .250 1 1
P. Rose Sr LF 5 0 0 0 0 2 3 .000 0 0
H. McRae RF 5 0 2 2 0 1 0 .400 0 2
D. Concepcion SS 4 0 1 0 1 1 0 .250 0 0
D. Gullett P 2 0 0 0 0 1 2 .000 0 0
a- J. Hague 1B 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 .500 0 0
Totals 41 3 7 3 4 9 14
a - J. Hague substituted for D. Gullett in the 8th
b - C. Geronimo pinch hit for P. Borbon in the 10th

BATTING
Doubles: T. Perez (1, 8th Inning off K. Holtzman, 0 on, 0 outs) H. McRae (1, 4th Inning off K. Holtzman, 2 on, 2 outs)
Home Runs: D. Menke (1, 6th Inning off K. Holtzman, 0 on, 0 outs)
Total Bases: T. Perez 3 , D. Menke 4 , H. McRae 3 , D. Concepcion , J. Hague
2-out RBI: H. McRae
Runners left in scoring position, 2 outs: D. Gullett , B. Tolan , P. Rose Sr
GIDP: D. Menke
Sac Bunt: D. Gullett
Team LOB: 6

FIELDING
Errors: D. Gullett , D. Concepcion
Double Plays: 1 (Menke-Morgan-Perez)
Player AB R H RBI BB K LOB AVG HR RBI
B. Campaneris SS 6 0 1 2 0 1 3 .167 0 2
M. Alou RF 6 0 1 0 0 1 2 .167 0 0
J. Rudi LF 5 1 2 1 1 0 1 .400 1 1
S. Bando 3B 5 0 1 0 0 0 3 .200 0 0
D. Mincher 1B 2 0 0 0 1 2 0 .000 0 0
a- M. Epstein PH, 1B 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .000 0 0
A. Mangual CF 5 0 0 0 0 1 5 .000 0 0
G. Tenace C 4 2 1 1 1 1 0 .250 1 1
D. Green 2B 3 1 0 0 2 1 0 .000 0 0
K. Holtzman P 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0
b- D. Duncan PH 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0
R. Fingers P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0
c- G. Hendrick PH 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 0 0
V. Blue P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0
Totals 39 4 6 4 6 7 15
a - M. Epstein pinch hit for D. Mincher in the 8th
b - D. Duncan pinch hit for K. Holtzman in the 9th
c - G. Hendrick pinch hit for R. Fingers in the 11th

BATTING
Doubles: M. Alou (1, 1st Inning off D. Gullett, 0 on, 1 out) J. Rudi (1, 10th Inning off T. Hall, 0 on, 1 out) S. Bando (1, 8th Inning off D. Gullett, 0 on, 2 outs)
Home Runs: G. Tenace (1, 9th Inning off P. Borbon, 0 on, 0 outs) J. Rudi (1, 12th Inning off T. Hall, 0 on, 1 out)
Total Bases: M. Alou 2 , G. Tenace 4 , J. Rudi 6 , B. Campaneris , S. Bando 2
2-out RBI: B. Campaneris
Runners left in scoring position, 2 outs: M. Alou , A. Mangual 2 , B. Campaneris , S. Bando
GIDP: S. Bando
Sac Bunt: K. Holtzman 2
Hit by Pitch: M. Epstein
Team LOB: 9

FIELDING
Double Plays: 1 (Green-Campaneris-Mincher)
CINCINNATI 1972 PITCHING LINESCORE OAKLAND 1972 PITCHING LINESCORE
Player IP H R ER BB K HR PI PS ERA
D. Gullett 7.2 3 2 2 4 5 0 104 65 2.35
P. Borbon BS (1) 1.1 1 1 1 0 0 1 21 13 6.75
T. Hall L (0-1) 2.1 2 1 1 2 2 1 38 25 3.86
PITCHING
Game Score: D. Gullett 66
Batters Faced: D. Gullett 31, P. Borbon 6, T. Hall 11
Ground Outs - Fly Outs: D. Gullett 8-9, P. Borbon 3-1, T. Hall 2-3
Pitches - Strikes: D. Gullett 104-65, P. Borbon 21-13, T. Hall 38-25
Inherited Runners - Scored: P. Borbon 1-0
Hit Batsmen: P. Borbon
Player IP H R ER BB K HR PI PS ERA
K. Holtzman 9.0 7 3 3 4 6 1 117 80 3.00
R. Fingers 2.0 0 0 0 0 3 0 25 17 0.00
V. Blue W (1-0) 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 6 0.00
PITCHING
Game Score: K. Holtzman 63
Batters Faced: K. Holtzman 37, R. Fingers 6, V. Blue 3
Ground Outs - Fly Outs: K. Holtzman 8-12, R. Fingers 1-2, V. Blue 1-2
Pitches - Strikes: K. Holtzman 117-80, R. Fingers 25-17, V. Blue 9-6
GAME NOTES
Player of the Game: Ken Holtzman
Ballpark: Oakland Coliseum
Weather: Clear skies (58 degrees), wind blowing in from left at 10 mph
Start Time: 6:07 PM Pacific
Time: 3:57
Attendance: 49,419