Infinite Cincinnati

1972 World Series: Game 4
CINCINNATI REDS @ OAKLAND ATHLETICS
OCTOBER 19, 1972
TIMELINE 32
GAME LOG
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 R H E
Cincinnati Reds 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 16 0
Oakland Athletics 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 8 0
Geronimo Singles Home Rose in 15th After Reds Erase 3-0 Hole
Rudi's home run in the first inning landed in the sixty-degree October dark somewhere beyond the left-field fence — 372 feet on a full count, the seventh pitch of the at-bat — and for four innings afterward the Coliseum hummed with the quiet confidence of a team that has built a lead and means to keep it. Oakland scratched out a second run in the third on a walk, a sacrifice, and a fielder's choice, then a third in the fourth when Bando singled, advanced on a wild pitch, and tagged home on Mangual's fly to left. Three-nothing through five against Don Gullett, and the night seemed to be folding itself closed early.

It was not. Bench, behind 0-2 and apparently helpless, lashed a double to left-center that split the outfielders like a door swinging open, and Menke — on the very next sequence, ahead 2-0 in the count — launched a drive that cleared the fence in right-center at 396 feet, a trajectory that seemed to carry not just two runners home but the entire complexion of the evening with it. Then in the seventh, Joe Hague, pinch-hitting for the pitcher, turned on a 1-2 offering and deposited it 395 feet into the right-field seats — the game tied at three, the crowd stunned into the particular silence that greets an opponent's refusal to die. Holtzman, who had been in command for six innings, left having surrendered all of it in the space of five swings.

What followed belonged to the long tradition of October games that refuse to end — Ruth pitching fourteen innings for the Red Sox in 1916, Walter Johnson grinding through twelve to finally claim his championship in the '24 Fall Classic, the 1907 opener at Chicago called on account of darkness after twelve with the score still knotted. Clay Carroll pitched three and two-thirds innings of zeros, his sinker finding ground ball after ground ball. Blue Moon Odom matched him from the Oakland side for five full innings of relief, a performance worthy of far better than the loss that awaited him. Eight innings passed without a run, the game stretching past five hours, and in the lower grandstands the ticket holders who had somewhere else to be slipped away into the night, leaving the diehards and the upper deckers to drift down into the vacated seats closer to the field, drawn by the gravity of something they sensed they could not leave without seeing finished.

In the fifteenth, Rose — in his seventh plate appearance of the night, a man who by all rights should have been home watching television — fell behind 0-2 against Odom and then fouled off pitch after pitch until he found one he could drive into center field for a single. Carroll sacrificed him to second. Concepción popped out. And then Geronimo, working the count full, his fifth ball and his third strike both hanging in the balance, lined a single to left at 95.6 miles per hour that scored Rose standing up. Five hours and eleven minutes, and one was left to marvel at how many different shapes this same evening can take — how one night at the Coliseum can contain, if you let it run long enough, every possible version of itself.
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 3 0 2 .000 0 0
B. Tolan CF 7 0 3 0 0 0 2 .429 0 0
T. Perez 1B 7 0 1 0 0 3 5 .143 0 0
J. Bench C 6 1 2 0 1 1 3 .333 0 0
D. Menke 3B 7 1 3 2 0 2 3 .429 1 2
P. Rose Sr LF 7 1 2 0 0 0 3 .286 0 0
H. McRae RF 3 0 1 0 1 0 1 .333 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 1 .000 0 0
E. Sprague Sr P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0
C. Carroll P 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .000 0 0
W. Simpson P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0
D. Concepcion SS 7 0 1 0 0 1 4 .143 0 0
D. Gullett P 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1.000 0 0
a- J. Hague PH 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1.000 1 1
T. Hall P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0
b- C. Geronimo RF 4 0 1 1 0 2 0 .250 0 1
Totals 57 4 16 4 5 10 24
a - J. Hague pinch hit for D. Gullett in the 7th
b - C. Geronimo substituted for T. Hall in the 8th
c - J. Javier pinch hit for P. Borbon in the 10th

BATTING
Doubles: J. Bench (1, 6th Inning off K. Holtzman, 0 on, 0 outs)
Home Runs: D. Menke (1, 6th Inning off K. Holtzman, 1 on, 0 outs) J. Hague (1, 7th Inning off K. Holtzman, 0 on, 0 outs)
Total Bases: J. Bench 3 , D. Gullett , B. Tolan 3 , P. Rose Sr 2 , T. Perez , D. Menke 6 , H. McRae , D. Concepcion , J. Hague 4 , C. Geronimo
2-out RBI: C. Geronimo
Runners left in scoring position, 2 outs: , J. Bench 2 , B. Tolan , T. Perez , D. Menke , H. McRae
GIDP: D. Concepcion
Sac Bunt: D. Gullett , C. Carroll
Team LOB: 13

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

FIELDING
Double Plays: 2 (Menke-Morgan-Perez, Concepcion-Perez)
Player AB R H RBI BB K LOB AVG HR RBI
B. Campaneris SS 6 0 1 0 0 1 1 .167 0 0
M. Alou RF 5 0 0 1 0 1 2 .000 0 1
J. Rudi LF 6 1 2 1 0 0 1 .333 1 1
S. Bando 3B 6 1 1 0 0 1 2 .167 0 0
D. Mincher 1B 6 0 1 0 0 0 3 .167 0 0
A. Mangual CF 5 0 0 1 0 2 1 .000 0 1
G. Tenace C 6 0 2 0 0 0 1 .333 0 0
D. Green 2B 4 1 0 0 1 1 1 .000 0 0
K. Holtzman P 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .000 0 0
R. Fingers P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0
a- M. Epstein PH 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1.000 0 0
V. Blue P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0
b- D. Duncan PH 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000 0 0
B. Odom P 2 0 0 0 0 2 1 .000 0 0
Totals 49 3 8 3 1 9 15
a - M. Epstein pinch hit for R. Fingers in the 8th
b - D. Duncan pinch hit for V. Blue in the 10th

BATTING
Doubles: G. Tenace (1, 10th Inning off E. Sprague Sr, 0 on, 1 out)
Home Runs: J. Rudi (1, 1st Inning off D. Gullett, 0 on, 2 outs)
Total Bases: G. Tenace 3 , J. Rudi 5 , D. Mincher , S. Bando , B. Campaneris , M. Epstein
2-out RBI: J. Rudi
Runners left in scoring position, 2 outs: D. Mincher
GIDP: G. Tenace , D. Duncan
Sac Bunt: K. Holtzman
Sac Fly: A. Mangual
Hit by Pitch: M. Alou , D. Green
Team LOB: 5

FIELDING
Double Plays: 1 (Campaneris-Green-Mincher)
CINCINNATI 1972 PITCHING LINESCORE OAKLAND 1972 PITCHING LINESCORE
Player IP H R ER BB K HR PI PS ERA
D. Gullett 6.0 4 3 3 1 4 1 79 55 4.50
T. Hall 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 14 9 0.00
P. Borbon 2.0 1 0 0 0 0 0 25 17 0.00
E. Sprague Sr 1.1 1 0 0 0 0 0 20 12 0.00
C. Carroll W (1-0) 3.2 2 0 0 0 3 0 38 26 0.00
W. Simpson SV (1) 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 11 7 0.00
PITCHING
Game Score: D. Gullett 55
Batters Faced: D. Gullett 22, T. Hall 3, P. Borbon 7, E. Sprague Sr 6, C. Carroll 13, W. Simpson 3
Ground Outs - Fly Outs: D. Gullett 9-4, T. Hall 2-0, P. Borbon 3-3, E. Sprague Sr 3-0, C. Carroll 3-5, W. Simpson 1-1
Pitches - Strikes: D. Gullett 79-55, T. Hall 14-9, P. Borbon 25-17, E. Sprague Sr 20-12, C. Carroll 38-26, W. Simpson 11-7
Inherited Runners - Scored: C. Carroll 1-0
WP: D. Gullett
Hit Batsmen: E. Sprague Sr 2
Player IP H R ER BB K HR PI PS ERA
K. Holtzman 6.1 9 3 3 2 3 2 95 58 4.26
R. Fingers 1.2 1 0 0 0 3 0 24 18 0.00
V. Blue 2.0 3 0 0 1 0 0 27 18 0.00
B. Odom L (0-1) 5.0 3 1 1 2 4 0 77 50 1.80
PITCHING
Game Score: K. Holtzman 44
Batters Faced: K. Holtzman 29, R. Fingers 6, V. Blue 9, B. Odom 20
Ground Outs - Fly Outs: K. Holtzman 10-5, R. Fingers 1-1, V. Blue 1-4, B. Odom 5-6
Pitches - Strikes: K. Holtzman 95-58, R. Fingers 24-18, V. Blue 27-18, B. Odom 77-50
Inherited Runners - Scored: R. Fingers 1-0
GAME NOTES
Player of the Game: Don Gullett
Ballpark: Oakland Coliseum
Weather: Partly Cloudy (60 degrees), wind blowing left to right at 11 mph
Start Time: 6:07 PM Pacific
Time: 5:11
Attendance: 49,419