BENCH LEAVES PINE, BELTS SLAM, RESCUES REDS
Cincy Bullpen Fires 4 2/3 Shutout Innings
CINCINNATI, May 12 (AP) - Johnny Bench cut short his day off in spectacular
fashion, belting a pinch hit grand slam in the bottom of the eighth inning to
lead the Cincinnati Reds to a 5-4 comeback victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates
at Riverfront Stadium. The Reds had largely been held at bay by Pirates
starter Jim Rooker, but he seemed to tire in the eighth inning, setting the
stage for Bench's heroics.
Pittsburgh opened the scoring with a pair of runs off Cincinnati starter Don
Gullett in the opening frame. With one out, Manny Sanguillen extended his
hitting streak to 17 games with a double. Al Oliver followed by grounding
a single to right, scoring Sanguillen with the game's first run. Willie
Stargell then chopped an opposite field base hit, advancing Oliver to
second. Richie Zisk's double to right brought Oliver home and the Pirates
had a 2-0 lead.
That lead doubled in the fifth and chased Gullett, who struggled throughout,
from the mound. Sanguillen opened the inning with his second two-bagger of
the game, and just as he had in the first, Oliver drove the Pittsburgh catcher
home with a single, this time to left. Stargell drew a walk, giving the
Pirates runners at first and second with no outs and after Zisk lined to right,
Dave Parker blooped a single to left, filling the bases. Gullett then
walked Richie Hebner, forcing in Oliver to give the Pirates a 4-0 lead. Reds
manager Sparky Anderson had seen enough and he replaced Gullett with Pat
Darcy. In a key sequence, Darcy pitched out of further difficulty by
inducing Mario Mendoza to ground into an inning ending double play.
Cincinnati finally got on the board against Rooker in the sixth. With one
out, Ken Griffey lined a base hit and Joe Morgan followed with an infield
single, putting runners on first and second. Tony Perez then laced a
double into the right field corner, scoring Griffey and advancing Morgan to
third. But Rooker rose to the occasion, striking out George Foster and
retiring pinch hitter Joel Youngblood on a fly ball to avoid further
trouble.
That's how things remained until the bottom of the eighth. Things began
innocently enough as Rooker retired Pete Rose and Griffey without
incident. But Morgan reached on an infield hit for the second time in the
game and when Hebner kicked Perez's routine ground ball the Reds had runners on
first and second. Rooker moved ahead of Foster 0-2 but then made a mistake
with a breaking ball and Foster lashed a single to left, loading the bases with
two outs. Anderson called on Bench to pinch hit for pitcher Will McEnaney--who
had tossed two shutout innings, part of a stellar effort by Cincinnati's relief
corps--and Pirates manager Danny Murtaugh summoned Dave Giusti from the bullpen
to replace Rooker. Bench worked the count full and Giusti, perhaps
predictably given the circumstances, came in with a fastball. Bench was
waiting and he didn't miss it. The blast carried into the third deck in
left field and gave the Reds their first lead of the contest. It was the
first pinch hit home run by a Reds batter thus far this season and the only
pinch hit grand slam hit in the major leagues to date this year.
Rawly Eastwick made it all stand up, easily retiring the Pirates in order in the
top of the ninth, capping 4 2/3 innings of shutout ball hurled by the Cincinnati
bullpen. Darcy, McEnaney and Eastwick combined to allow just one while
giving their teammates a chance to get back in the game.
There have only been two grand slams hit thus far this season in the National
League, both of them by members of the Reds. Dave Concepcion accomplished
the feat in a 13-2 thrashing of the Montreal Expos on May 2 at Riverfront
Stadium.
5/12/1976, Pit76-Cin76, Riverfront Stadium 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1976 Pirates 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 4 11 1 9 1 1976 Reds 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 4 x 5 8 0 5 3 Pirates AB R H BI AVG Reds AB R H BI AVG Stennett 2b 5 0 0 0 .164 Rose 3b 4 0 0 0 .336 Sanguillen c 4 2 2 0 .333 Griffey rf 4 1 2 0 .356 Oliver cf 5 2 2 2 .338 Morgan,J 2b 4 1 2 0 .422 Stargell 1b 4 0 1 0 .218 Perez,T 1b 4 1 1 1 .172 Zisk lf 3 0 1 1 .330 Foster,G cf 4 1 1 0 .313 Parker,D rf 4 0 1 0 .333 Bailey lf 2 0 0 0 .212 Hebner 3b 2 0 0 1 .272 Darcy p 0 0 0 0 .200 Mendoza ss 4 0 3 0 .273 Youngblood ph 1 0 0 0 .214 Rooker p 3 0 1 0 .200 McEnaney p 0 0 0 0 .000 Giusti p 0 0 0 0 .000 Bench ph 1 1 1 4 .329 34 4 11 4 Eastwick p 0 0 0 0 .000 Concepcion ss 4 0 0 0 .279 Plummer c 2 0 1 0 .292 Gullett p 0 0 0 0 .125 Driessen lf 2 0 0 0 .235 32 5 8 5 Pirates INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Rooker 7.2 7 4 1 1 4 120 75 2.78 Giusti BS 1, L 1-1 0.1 1 1 1 0 0 10 6 0.79 8.0 8 5 2 1 4 130 81 Reds INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Gullett 4.1 10 4 4 4 3 96 60 3.54 Darcy 1.2 0 0 0 1 0 17 10 2.01 McEnaney W 2-0 2.0 1 0 0 0 1 26 21 1.74 Eastwick S 3 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 11 8 4.50 9.0 11 4 4 5 5 150 99 Cin: Driessen inserted at lf in the 5th Youngblood batted for Darcy in the 6th Bench batted for McEnaney in the 8th E-Hebner. 2B-Sanguillen 2(11), Zisk(7), Perez,T(5). HR-Bench(3). RBI-Oliver 2(14), Zisk(14), Hebner(12), Perez,T(16), Bench 4(16). SB-Griffey(6). K-Sanguillen, Stargell, Zisk, Parker,D, Hebner, Griffey, Foster,G, Bailey 2. BB-Sanguillen, Stargell, Zisk, Hebner 2, Plummer. SH-Rooker. HBP-Gullett. HB-Rooker. GWRBI: Bench Temperature: 71, Sky: partly cloudy, Wind: out to left at 8 MPH. Attendance: 29,327 Game Time: 2:27