Editor’s note: How good were the 1975 Cincinnati Reds? The best way to end the speculation is to challenge the team with a 162-game season against some great teams. This is a series that will include each game played with the Strat-o-Matic cards and dice, while hoping to reach the 108-54 record that the Reds had that season. Game stories will be published periodically on Press Room Pass through out the year. What’s your predicted victory total?
Cincinnati Reds manager Sparky Anderson found a broom in the visiting clubhouse at Minute Maid Park.
Needing to sweep a three-game set from Houston to stay alive in the National League West title hunt, the Reds survived a wild affair to post a 10-9 victory over the Astros in the series finale.
The Reds scored the game-winning run in the ninth against Astros closer Ken Giles to complete the sweep.
With the Reds scoring seven unanswered runs beginning in the sixth inning, Joe Morgan led off the ninth with a single.
After Morgan swiped second, Johnny Bench knocked him in with what turned out to be the game-winning single.
Reds closer Rawly Eastwick pitched the eighth and then needed some defensive help in the ninth to earn the victory.
With one out, Eastwick got in trouble as Jake Marisnick doubled. Alex Bregman followed with a single to center, but Marisnick was thrown out at home on a perfect strike from Cesar Geronimo.
Eastwick then got Carlos Correa to hit a rountine grounder to third and the Reds were celebrating a sweep.
Fast start
An early power surge gave the Reds a 2-0 advantage against Astros starter Justin Verlander. Morgan hit a solo homer in the first and Tony Perez led off the second with another home run.
Reds ace Don Gullett (19-8) allowed just one hit through three innings as he was making his third attempt for his 20th victory of the season.
The fourth frame was a different story for the Reds lefty as the Astros scored five runs.
Marwin Gonzalez started the scoring with a sacrifice fly before Carlos Beltran and Derek Fisher hit two-run homers that put the Astros on top 5-2.
Things got worse for Gullett in the fifth as he surrendered a three-run bomb to Gonzalez on his final pitch.
Anderson brought in Clay Carroll and that didn’t help matters as Beltran smacked a solo shot for his second homer of the contest to give the Astros a 9-2 advantage.
The Road Back
The Reds responded with three runs in the top of the sixth and then they sent Verlander to the showers in the sixth with two more runs to cut Houston’s lead to 9-7.
In the sixth, Cincinnati picked up an unearned run before Dave Concepcion drilled a two-run homer. One inning later, Morgan hit a two-run homer to end Verlander’s day.
On the mound for Cincinnati, Pedro Borbon held the Astros scoreless in the sixth and seventh as the Reds started their comeback.
With two runs in the eighth off Will Harris, the Reds tied it at 9-9.
Pinch-hitter Merv Rettenmund had a sacrifice fly to get the Reds to within a run. A RBI double by Pete Rose tied the game to set the stage for the ninth.
Cincinnati closes out the season with a three-game series against the Milwaukee Braves at Riverfront Stadium.
Gary Nolan (17-10) gets the start for the Reds in the opener against Milwaukee, while the Braves counter with Lew Burdette.
The Reds now have a winning percentage of .604. They must sweep the Braves to force a playoff game against the New York Giants (.611) for the NL West crown.
National League Standings
(Records involve games only with Reds)
East Division
1969 Mets (7-5)
2016 Cubs (6-6)
1971 Pirates (5-7)
1967 Cardinals (4-8)
1975 Expos (4-8)
2008 Phillies (2-10)
West Division
1954 Giants (11-7)
1975 Reds (96-63)
1957 Braves (7-8)
1981 Dodgers (7-11)
2017 Astros (6-12)
1975 Padres (4-14)