REDS REACH CENTURY MARK
Late Comeback Sinks Pads
SAN DIEGO, Sept. 29 (AP) - The Cincinnati Reds rallied late, defeating the
Padres 7-4 at San Diego Stadium, to become the first major league team this
season to win 100 games. Bill Plummer's RBI single in the top of the ninth
tied the contest and run-scoring base hits off the bats of Joe Morgan, George
Foster and Tony Perez in the 10th tallied three more runs to account for the
final score.
The Padres struck first, scoring an unearned run off Reds starter Fred Norman in
the opening frame. John Grubb reached base with one-out when Plummer made
a poor throw on an infield dribbler and, after Merv Rettenmund walked, Grubb
coasted home on Bobby Valentine's double.
The Reds evened the score in the fourth. Morgan drew a lead-off free pass
from Padres starter Brent Strom and was forced at second by Foster. A wild
pitch moved the runner to second and Foster scored on a Perez two-bagger.
San Diego nudged ahead again in the fifth when Bill Almon led off with a double,
advanced to third on Grubb's sacrifice, and then scored on Rettenmund's base
hit.
Cincinnati gained the lead for the first time in the top of the seventh when
Perez drew a lead-off walk and Bob Bailey belted a Strom offering into the seats
in straight away left.
But the Padres got the two runs back in the bottom of the frame. Pat
Zachry, on in relief, retired Almon but then issued consecutive walks to Grubb,
Rettenmund and Valentine, loading the bases with one out. Reds manager
Sparky Anderson summoned Manny Sarmiento from the bullpen and he moved ahead of
Mike Ivie 0-2 but then made a colossal mistake with a breaking ball and Ivie
lined it into left-center field for a two-run single, giving San Diego a 4-3
advantage.
The score remained unchanged into the ninth and Butch Metzger came on to nail
the game down but walked pinch hitter Dan Driessen to open the inning.
Driessen stole second but pinch hitter Mike Lum popped up his bunt attempt for
the first out. Plummer then followed with the game-tying single.
Pedro Borbon retired the Padres in order in the bottom of the ninth and, with
one out in the top of the 10th, Dave Concepcion singled through the box and
stole second base. Morgan then followed with a single, scoring Concepcion
to tie the game. Morgan stole second and raced home on Foster's single to
left, with Foster taking second on the fruitless throw to the plate.
Metzger was replaced on the mound by Alan Foster, but he was greeted by a Perez
base hit, scoring Foster with the third run of the inning to give Cincinnati a
7-4 lead.
Rawly Eastwick came on for the Reds in the ninth and pitched around Ted Kubiak's
two-out single to finish off the game.
9/29/1976, Cin76-SD 76, San Diego Stadium 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E LOB DP 1976 Reds 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 1 3 7 12 1 5 1 1976 Padres 1 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 4 8 0 10 2 Reds AB R H BI AVG Padres AB R H BI AVG Rose 3b 5 0 1 0 .313 Almon ss 4 1 2 0 .200 Concepcion ss 5 1 2 0 .275 Davis,W cf 0 0 0 0 .225 Morgan,J 2b 4 1 2 1 .307 Grubb cf 3 2 0 0 .274 Foster,G cf 4 2 1 1 .324 Metzger,B p 0 0 0 0 .000 Perez,T 1b 5 1 3 2 .267 Foster,A p 0 0 0 0 .040 Bailey lf 3 1 1 2 .301 Rettenmund rf 3 1 2 1 .250 Driessen ph 1 1 0 0 .211 Valentine,B lf 4 0 1 1 .359 Youngblood rf 3 0 0 0 .143 Ivie 1b 4 0 2 2 .282 Zachry p 0 0 0 0 .095 Hernandez,E pr 0 0 0 0 .291 Sarmiento p 0 0 0 0 .167 Melendez rf 1 0 0 0 .220 Lum ph 1 0 0 0 .177 Rader,Do 3b 4 0 0 0 .259 Borbon p 0 0 0 0 .308 Kendall c 4 0 0 0 .229 Werner c 0 0 0 0 .400 Kubiak ph 1 0 1 0 .237 Plummer c 4 0 2 1 .215 Champion,M 2b 5 0 0 0 .160 Eastwick p 0 0 0 0 .200 Strom p 3 0 0 0 .119 Norman p 2 0 0 0 .113 Johnson,J p 0 0 0 0 .000 Griffey ph 2 0 0 0 .327 Tomlin p 0 0 0 0 .250 39 7 12 7 Ashford ph 1 0 0 0 .000 Torres,H ss 0 0 0 0 .186 37 4 8 4 Reds INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Norman 6.0 5 2 1 3 4 101 67 2.45 Zachry H 2 0.1 0 2 2 3 0 19 7 3.39 Sarmiento BS 4 1.2 2 0 0 0 1 20 17 2.82 Borbon W 9-5 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 10 6 3.59 Eastwick S 23 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 10 7 2.34 10.0 8 4 3 6 7 160 104 Padres INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Strom 6.0 5 3 3 2 1 95 54 3.26 Johnson,J 1.0 2 0 0 0 2 24 19 2.86 Tomlin H 10 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 11 9 4.41 Metzger,B BS 7, L 5-7 1.1 4 4 4 1 0 30 19 3.59 Foster,A 0.2 1 0 0 0 0 8 5 2.62 10.0 12 7 7 3 4 168 106 Cin: Griffey batted for Norman in the 7th Griffey moved to rf in the 7th Driessen batted for Bailey in the 9th Lum batted for Sarmiento in the 9th Driessen moved to lf in the 9th Werner inserted at c in the 10th SD : Hernandez,E ran for Ivie in the 7th Rettenmund moved to lf in the 8th Valentine,B moved to 1b in the 8th Melendez inserted at rf in the 8th Ashford batted for Tomlin in the 8th Davis,W inserted at cf in the 9th Torres,H inserted at ss in the 9th Kubiak batted for Kendall in the 10th E-Plummer. 2B-Rose(32), Morgan,J(25), Perez,T(33), Almon(1), Valentine,B(3). HR-Bailey(8). RBI-Morgan,J(138), Foster,G(128), Perez,T 2(107), Bailey 2(15), Plummer(12), Rettenmund(17), Valentine,B(3), Ivie 2(47). SB-Concepcion(17), Morgan,J(58), Driessen(11). CS-Concepcion. K-Concepcion, Morgan,J, Youngblood, Norman, Rettenmund, Rader,Do 3, Kendall, Champion,M, Strom. BB-Morgan,J, Foster,G, Driessen, Almon, Grubb, Rettenmund 2, Valentine,B, Rader,Do. SH-Grubb. WP-Strom. GWRBI: Morgan,J Temperature: 60, Sky: partly cloudy, Wind: out to center at 9 MPH. Attendance: 19,750 Game Time: 3:21