Infinite Cincinnati

1972 World Series: Game 4
CINCINNATI REDS @ OAKLAND ATHLETICS
OCTOBER 19, 1972
TIMELINE 30
GAME LOG
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 R H E
Cincinnati Reds 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 10 0
Oakland Athletics 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 2
Rose's 14th-Inning Single Ends Epic Scoreless Game 4 Duel
Don Gullett and Ken Holtzman pitched seven innings apiece without allowing a run, and in doing so they entered — whether they knew it or not — the ancient company of Mathewson and Bender, of Ford and Marichal, of every October arm that ever traded zeros with another man's pride on the line and fifty thousand souls bearing witness. Gullett worked 95 pitches across seven scoreless frames, Holtzman 98, both left-handers carving the night air at fifty-five degrees the way Koufax once carved it in Dodger Stadium on two days' rest, the way Gibson carved it when he struck out seventeen Tigers and made the world understand that a pitcher in October is not merely an athlete but a force of nature. When both departed after seven the scoreboard read nothing but zeros, a row so long it seemed etched in stone, and the game passed beyond sport into something older — into the territory of Haddix throwing twelve perfect innings against Milwaukee, of Spahn and Marichal going sixteen in a July that felt like October, of every epic that baseball has offered in its century and a half of asking men to stand on a mound and refuse.

The Reds loaded the bases in the fourth on walks to Bench and Menke and a Rose infield single, and scored nothing. They loaded them again in the tenth — Concepcion's double, Tolan's infield hit, an intentional walk — and scored nothing. In the eleventh three walks filled the bases once more, and Julian Javier fouled off five consecutive pitches before striking out looking, each foul ball a small agony, and still the zeros held. Eighteen runners stranded across fourteen innings, a number that belongs in the same breath as the twenty-six consecutive scoreless innings the 1920 Dodgers played in a World Series that time has half-forgotten. The bullpens traded shutout frames like monks passing a candle — Borbon, Hall, Sprague, and Carroll for Cincinnati; Fingers, Vida Blue, and the magnificently named Blue Moon Odom for Oakland — none of them allowing a run through seven combined innings of relief, each man picking up where the last left off in a chain of dominance that would have made Whitey Ford's record-keepers reach for their pencils.

The crowd of 49,419 had long since stopped cheering and started merely bearing witness the way one bears witness to an event that has outgrown entertainment and become vigil. Four hours and fifty-five minutes. And then, in the fourteenth, the spell cracked — not with thunder but with the smallest possible fracture. Bobby Tolan reached on Bando's error, stole second without a throw, and after Odom intentionally walked Bench, Denis Menke stepped in for a full-count at-bat that lasted eight pitches, fouling off ball after ball in the manner of a man who refuses to die, and finally drew the walk that loaded the bases with two outs. Pete Rose — Charlie Hustle, who played every game of his life as though it were the seventh game of a World Series — swung at the first pitch and lined a single to right-center that scored Tolan from second. One run. The only run. The kind of run that Mathewson would have recognized, that Walter Johnson waited a whole career to score in the 1924 Series, the run that exists not to win a game but to prove that all the silence was worth enduring. Clay Carroll retired Oakland in the bottom half, and this longest of nights, this game that seemed as if it might go on forever — as if, in some other shuffling of the calendar, it still is — was over.
CINCINNATI 1972 BATTING LINESCORE OAKLAND 1972 BATTING LINESCORE
Player AB R H RBI BB K LOB AVG HR RBI
J. Morgan 2B 5 0 0 0 2 0 3 .000 0 0
B. Tolan CF 7 1 3 0 0 2 0 .429 0 0
T. Perez 1B 7 0 0 0 0 2 7 .000 0 0
J. Bench C 5 0 0 0 2 1 4 .000 0 0
D. Menke 3B 4 0 2 0 3 0 0 .500 0 0
P. Rose Sr LF 7 0 3 1 0 0 3 .429 0 1
H. McRae RF 3 0 1 0 0 0 4 .333 0 0
a- C. Geronimo PH, RF 2 0 0 0 2 0 4 .000 0 0
D. Concepcion SS 5 0 1 0 1 0 6 .200 0 0
D. Gullett P 3 0 0 0 0 1 3 .000 0 0
P. Borbon P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0
b- J. Hague PH 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 .000 0 0
T. Hall P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0
c- J. Javier PH 1 0 0 0 0 1 3 .000 0 0
E. Sprague Sr P 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 .000 0 0
C. Carroll P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0
Totals 51 1 10 1 10 9 40
a - C. Geronimo pinch hit for H. McRae in the 9th
b - J. Hague pinch hit for P. Borbon in the 10th
c - J. Javier pinch hit for T. Hall in the 11th

BATTING
Doubles: D. Concepcion (1, 10th Inning off R. Fingers, 0 on, 0 outs)
Total Bases: B. Tolan 3 , P. Rose Sr 3 , D. Menke 2 , H. McRae , D. Concepcion 2
2-out RBI: P. Rose Sr
Runners left in scoring position, 2 outs: J. Bench , E. Sprague Sr , D. Gullett , T. Perez , J. Morgan , C. Geronimo
GIDP: H. McRae
Team LOB: 18

BASERUNNING
SB: B. Tolan (1)
CS: J. Morgan (1) , D. Concepcion (1)
Player AB R H RBI BB K LOB AVG HR RBI
B. Campaneris SS 4 0 1 0 0 0 2 .250 0 0
M. Alou RF 5 0 1 0 1 0 3 .200 0 0
J. Rudi LF 5 0 1 0 1 0 2 .200 0 0
S. Bando 3B 6 0 0 0 0 1 5 .000 0 0
D. Mincher 1B 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 .000 0 0
b- M. Epstein PH, 1B 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 .500 0 0
A. Mangual CF 5 0 0 0 1 1 2 .000 0 0
G. Tenace C 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 .000 0 0
R. Fingers P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0
V. Blue P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0
c- G. Hendrick PH 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .000 0 0
B. Odom P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0
D. Green 2B 5 0 0 0 0 1 3 .000 0 0
K. Holtzman P 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 .000 0 0
a- D. Duncan C 2 0 1 0 1 0 1 .500 0 0
Totals 42 0 5 0 6 6 19
a - D. Duncan substituted for K. Holtzman in the 8th
b - M. Epstein pinch hit for D. Mincher in the 9th
c - G. Hendrick pinch hit for V. Blue in the 10th

BATTING
Doubles: B. Campaneris (1, 5th Inning off D. Gullett, 0 on, 2 outs)
Total Bases: M. Alou , J. Rudi , B. Campaneris 2 , D. Duncan , M. Epstein
Runners left in scoring position, 2 outs: M. Alou , J. Rudi , B. Campaneris , S. Bando 2 , D. Green 2
Sac Bunt: B. Odom 2 , B. Campaneris 2 , D. Green
Team LOB: 10

FIELDING
Errors: K. Holtzman , S. Bando
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 7.0 3 0 0 3 5 0 95 59 0.00
P. Borbon 2.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 8 0.00
T. Hall 1.0 0 0 0 1 0 0 11 5 0.00
E. Sprague Sr 2.0 1 0 0 1 1 0 23 14 0.00
C. Carroll W (1-0) 2.0 1 0 0 1 0 0 20 15 0.00
PITCHING
Game Score: D. Gullett 73
Batters Faced: D. Gullett 27, P. Borbon 6, T. Hall 4, E. Sprague Sr 8, C. Carroll 8
Ground Outs - Fly Outs: D. Gullett 6-10, P. Borbon 3-3, T. Hall 2-1, E. Sprague Sr 4-1, C. Carroll 4-2
Pitches - Strikes: D. Gullett 95-59, P. Borbon 9-8, T. Hall 11-5, E. Sprague Sr 23-14, C. Carroll 20-15
Inherited Runners - Scored: P. Borbon 1-0 , C. Carroll 1-0
Player IP H R ER BB K HR PI PS ERA
K. Holtzman 7.0 5 0 0 2 4 0 98 57 0.00
R. Fingers 2.1 2 0 0 2 2 0 38 21 0.00
V. Blue 0.2 1 0 0 0 1 0 15 9 0.00
B. Odom L (0-1) 4.0 2 1 0 6 2 0 80 44 0.00
PITCHING
Game Score: K. Holtzman 69
Batters Faced: K. Holtzman 27, R. Fingers 10, V. Blue 3, B. Odom 21
Ground Outs - Fly Outs: K. Holtzman 11-4, R. Fingers 2-2, V. Blue 0-1, B. Odom 5-5
Pitches - Strikes: K. Holtzman 98-57, R. Fingers 38-21, V. Blue 15-9, B. Odom 80-44
Inherited Runners - Scored: V. Blue 2-0
WP: B. Odom
GAME NOTES
Player of the Game: Don Gullett
Ballpark: Oakland Coliseum
Weather: Partly Cloudy (55 degrees), wind blowing left to right at 9 mph
Start Time: 6:07 PM Pacific
Time: 4:55
Attendance: 49,419