Infinite Cincinnati

1972 World Series: Game 4
CINCINNATI REDS @ OAKLAND ATHLETICS
OCTOBER 19, 1972
TIMELINE 19
GAME LOG
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Cincinnati Reds 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 3 7 0
Oakland Athletics 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 X 4 10 2
Rudi's 8th-Inning Homer Snaps 3-3 Tie as Holtzman Goes the Distance
Holtzman and Gullett each threw exactly 122 pitches on this clear 56-degree night, a symmetry that would have amused no one in the Cincinnati dugout. The difference was what those pitches produced: Holtzman scattered seven hits across nine innings, allowed only two earned runs, and finished with a game score of 68. Gullett allowed ten hits, yielded single runs in four different innings, and spent the entire evening one swing away from a tied game that never quite arrived.

Oakland scored its first run on craft — Campaneris singling at 113 miles per hour, Alou moving him to third, Rudi lifting a sacrifice fly deep enough to right-center. They scored their second on a wild pitch in the second inning, their third on what amounted to steady accumulation. Gullett bent in small increments. He was never hit hard in bunches, never lost his command for a full at-bat, and yet the score kept tilting away from him like a table with one short leg. The Reds' defense gave him nothing: two Campaneris errors in the second put runners aboard before Holtzman's wild pitch scored Rose, but that was Oakland's generosity, not Cincinnati's earned.

Bench's solo home run in the sixth — a 3-1 pitch driven 417 feet to left on a night the wind was blowing in — made it 3-2 and suggested the game might yet turn. In the seventh, McRae doubled to right-center on the first pitch of the inning and Gullett, helping himself, tripled to the right-field wall to tie it at three. Holtzman walked Morgan intentionally and escaped without further damage, the way a man holds his breath underwater and surfaces barely changed.

Then Rudi, in the eighth, turned on an 0-1 pitch and drove it 393 feet to left-center for a solo home run that restored the lead Oakland had held all night. In the ninth, Holtzman retired Concepcion, Geronimo, and Morgan in order — the last one called out looking, the bat still on his shoulder, as if the evening had already decided its shape and there was nothing left to contest.
CINCINNATI 1972 BATTING LINESCORE OAKLAND 1972 BATTING LINESCORE
Player AB R H RBI BB K LOB AVG HR RBI
J. Morgan 2B 4 0 0 0 1 1 0 .000 0 0
B. Tolan CF 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000 0 0
T. Perez 1B 4 0 1 0 0 2 2 .250 0 0
J. Bench C 4 1 2 1 0 1 0 .500 1 1
D. Menke 3B 4 0 1 0 0 0 2 .250 0 0
P. Rose Sr LF 4 1 1 0 0 0 1 .250 0 0
H. McRae RF 4 1 1 0 0 1 3 .250 0 0
D. Concepcion SS 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 .000 0 0
D. Gullett P 3 0 1 1 0 1 2 .333 0 1
a- C. Geronimo PH 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0
Totals 36 3 7 2 1 6 16
a - C. Geronimo pinch hit for D. Gullett in the 9th

BATTING
Doubles: H. McRae (1, 7th Inning off K. Holtzman, 0 on, 0 outs)
Triples: D. Gullett (1, 7th Inning off K. Holtzman, 1 on, 1 out)
Home Runs: J. Bench (1, 6th Inning off K. Holtzman, 0 on, 1 out)
Total Bases: J. Bench 5 , D. Gullett 3 , P. Rose Sr , T. Perez , D. Menke , H. McRae 2
Runners left in scoring position, 2 outs: D. Gullett , T. Perez , D. Menke
Team LOB: 6

FIELDING
Double Plays: 1 (Concepcion-Morgan-Perez)
Player AB R H RBI BB K LOB AVG HR RBI
B. Campaneris SS 4 1 1 0 0 2 1 .250 0 0
M. Alou RF 4 1 2 0 0 0 0 .500 0 0
J. Rudi LF 3 1 1 2 0 0 2 .333 1 2
S. Bando 3B 4 0 2 0 0 0 1 .500 0 0
D. Mincher 1B 4 0 1 0 0 1 2 .250 0 0
A. Mangual CF 4 1 2 0 0 0 3 .500 0 0
G. Tenace C 2 0 1 0 2 0 1 .500 0 0
D. Green 2B 4 0 0 0 0 2 7 .000 0 0
K. Holtzman P 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000 0 0
Totals 31 4 10 2 2 5 19
BATTING
Doubles: M. Alou (1, 3rd Inning off D. Gullett, 0 on, 0 outs) A. Mangual (1, 4th Inning off D. Gullett, 0 on, 0 outs) S. Bando (1, 8th Inning off D. Gullett, 0 on, 1 out)
Home Runs: J. Rudi (1, 8th Inning off D. Gullett, 0 on, 1 out)
Total Bases: M. Alou 3 , G. Tenace , J. Rudi 4 , D. Mincher , A. Mangual 3 , B. Campaneris , S. Bando 3
Runners left in scoring position, 2 outs: G. Tenace , D. Green , B. Campaneris
GIDP: K. Holtzman
Sac Bunt: K. Holtzman
Sac Fly: J. Rudi
Team LOB: 7

FIELDING
Errors: B. Campaneris 2
CINCINNATI 1972 PITCHING LINESCORE OAKLAND 1972 PITCHING LINESCORE
Player IP H R ER BB K HR PI PS ERA
D. Gullett L (0-1) 8.0 10 4 4 2 5 1 122 76 4.50
PITCHING
Game Score: D. Gullett 49
Batters Faced: D. Gullett 35
Ground Outs - Fly Outs: D. Gullett 8-10
Pitches - Strikes: D. Gullett 122-76
WP: D. Gullett 2
Player IP H R ER BB K HR PI PS ERA
K. Holtzman W (1-0) 9.0 7 3 2 1 6 1 122 85 2.00
PITCHING
Game Score: K. Holtzman 68
Batters Faced: K. Holtzman 37
Ground Outs - Fly Outs: K. Holtzman 12-9
Pitches - Strikes: K. Holtzman 122-85
WP: K. Holtzman
GAME NOTES
Player of the Game: Ken Holtzman
Ballpark: Oakland Coliseum
Weather: Clear skies (56 degrees), wind blowing in from left at 10 mph
Start Time: 6:07 PM Pacific
Time: 3:00
Attendance: 49,419