Infinite Cincinnati

1972 World Series: Game 4
CINCINNATI REDS @ OAKLAND ATHLETICS
OCTOBER 19, 1972
TIMELINE 12
GAME LOG
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 R H E
Cincinnati Reds 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 11 1
Oakland Athletics 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 3
Tolan Triples, Perez Singles Him Home in 15th to End 5-Hour Game 4 Marathon
Five hours and forty minutes is a long time to spend in a ballpark when the thermometer reads sixty-one and the wind blows in from left at eleven miles per hour. It is longer still when only seven runs separate the two clubs after fifteen innings of labor, and three of Oakland's belong to a team that collected exactly three hits all evening.

Ken Holtzman worked nine full innings on a hundred and sixty-one pitches, struck out seven, and departed without a decision — which seems insufficient reward for a man who held Cincinnati to two runs while his fielders committed three errors behind him. Don Gullett matched him for eight, throwing a hundred and fifty-five and fanning ten, and he too left with nothing settled. The bullpens emptied by degrees — Fingers, Borbon, Hall, Blue — until Sprague threw fourteen pitches across the last two innings and collected a win he barely had to work for.

The decisive blow came in the fifteenth from a man who had been circling these bases all night. Bobby Tolan, who scored Cincinnati's first run back in the opening frame on a Bench single, tripled to right-center — the sort of hit that wind blowing in from left could do nothing about — and Tony Perez singled him home through a drawn-in infield. Perez had kept Cincinnati breathing in the fifth with a solo home run that traveled four hundred and seven feet into the October dark, and Rose had knotted it at three in the eighth. One has the strange sense Tolan has rounded these bags before, that this particular sprint from third has happened in some other telling of this Thursday night.

Oakland's offense was Mincher's two-run double in the third, delivered on a full count with the bases loaded via three walks, and Alou's single in the fourth. After that — nothing. Twelve innings of silence. The Coliseum was half-empty by the twelfth, and those who stayed saw it end not with thunder but a groundout to short.
CINCINNATI 1972 BATTING LINESCORE OAKLAND 1972 BATTING LINESCORE
Player AB R H RBI BB K LOB AVG HR RBI
J. Morgan 2B 7 0 1 0 0 0 0 .143 0 0
B. Tolan CF 7 2 1 0 0 0 2 .143 0 0
T. Perez 1B 6 1 3 2 1 2 2 .500 1 2
J. Bench C 7 1 3 1 0 1 2 .429 0 1
D. Menke 3B 5 0 0 0 2 3 4 .000 0 0
P. Rose Sr LF 6 0 2 1 1 1 5 .333 0 1
H. McRae RF 4 0 1 0 0 1 3 .250 0 0
b- J. Hague PH, RF 3 0 0 0 0 2 4 .000 0 0
D. Concepcion SS 6 0 0 0 0 3 4 .000 0 0
D. Gullett P 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 .000 0 0
a- C. Geronimo PH 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0
P. Borbon P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0
c- J. Javier PH 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0
T. Hall P 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0
E. Sprague Sr P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0
Totals 57 4 11 4 4 14 27
a - C. Geronimo pinch hit for D. Gullett in the 9th
b - J. Hague pinch hit for H. McRae in the 11th
c - J. Javier pinch hit for P. Borbon in the 12th

BATTING
Doubles: H. McRae (1, 2nd Inning off K. Holtzman, 0 on, 1 out)
Triples: B. Tolan (1, 15th Inning off V. Blue, 0 on, 0 outs)
Home Runs: T. Perez (1, 5th Inning off K. Holtzman, 0 on, 2 outs)
Total Bases: J. Bench 3 , B. Tolan 3 , P. Rose Sr 2 , T. Perez 6 , J. Morgan , H. McRae 2
2-out RBI: J. Bench , T. Perez
Runners left in scoring position, 2 outs: D. Gullett , P. Rose Sr , T. Perez , D. Menke 2 , J. Hague 2
GIDP: D. Concepcion
Team LOB: 11

BASERUNNING
SB: B. Tolan (1) , J. Morgan (1)

FIELDING
Errors: J. Morgan
Double Plays: 1 (Menke-Morgan-Perez)
Player AB R H RBI BB K LOB AVG HR RBI
B. Campaneris SS 7 0 0 0 0 2 2 .000 0 0
M. Alou RF 6 1 1 1 1 1 1 .167 0 1
J. Rudi LF 4 1 0 0 2 2 1 .000 0 0
S. Bando 3B 5 0 0 0 1 0 3 .000 0 0
D. Mincher 1B 6 0 1 2 0 3 0 .167 0 2
A. Mangual CF 4 0 0 0 2 2 2 .000 0 0
G. Tenace C 6 0 0 0 0 2 4 .000 0 0
D. Green 2B 5 1 1 0 1 1 0 .200 0 0
K. Holtzman P 2 0 0 0 0 1 4 .000 0 0
a- M. Epstein PH 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0
R. Fingers P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0
b- D. Duncan PH 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .000 0 0
V. Blue P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0
c- G. Hendrick PH 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0
Totals 47 3 3 3 8 14 17
a - M. Epstein pinch hit for K. Holtzman in the 9th
b - D. Duncan pinch hit for R. Fingers in the 12th
c - G. Hendrick pinch hit for V. Blue in the 15th

BATTING
Doubles: D. Mincher (1, 3rd Inning off D. Gullett, 3 on, 1 out)
Total Bases: M. Alou , D. Mincher 2 , D. Green
2-out RBI: M. Alou
Runners left in scoring position, 2 outs: K. Holtzman , G. Tenace , S. Bando
GIDP: G. Tenace
Sac Bunt: K. Holtzman
Team LOB: 7

FIELDING
Errors: G. Tenace , J. Rudi , D. Green
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 8.0 3 3 3 6 10 0 155 94 3.38
P. Borbon 3.0 0 0 0 0 2 0 28 20 0.00
T. Hall 2.0 0 0 0 2 2 0 43 26 0.00
E. Sprague Sr W (1-0) 2.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 14 13 0.00
PITCHING
Game Score: D. Gullett 68
Batters Faced: D. Gullett 34, P. Borbon 9, T. Hall 8, E. Sprague Sr 5
Ground Outs - Fly Outs: D. Gullett 4-10, P. Borbon 5-2, T. Hall 1-3, E. Sprague Sr 4-1
Pitches - Strikes: D. Gullett 155-94, P. Borbon 28-20, T. Hall 43-26, E. Sprague Sr 14-13
Inherited Runners - Scored: E. Sprague Sr 1-0
Player IP H R ER BB K HR PI PS ERA
K. Holtzman 9.0 8 3 2 2 7 1 161 96 2.00
R. Fingers 3.0 0 0 0 0 3 0 36 25 0.00
V. Blue L (0-1) 3.0 3 1 1 2 4 0 51 32 3.00
PITCHING
Game Score: K. Holtzman 66
Batters Faced: K. Holtzman 38, R. Fingers 9, V. Blue 14
Ground Outs - Fly Outs: K. Holtzman 10-9, R. Fingers 2-4, V. Blue 2-3
Pitches - Strikes: K. Holtzman 161-96, R. Fingers 36-25, V. Blue 51-32
GAME NOTES
Player of the Game: Don Gullett
Ballpark: Oakland Coliseum
Weather: Clear skies (61 degrees), wind blowing in from left at 11 mph
Start Time: 6:07 PM Pacific
Time: 5:40
Attendance: 49,419