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’s five-game winning streak came to an end as the Reds and Expos split a doubleheader at Riverfront Stadium.
The Reds won the opener 5-1 before the Expos bounced back with a 5-4 victory in the 12-inning finale.
Don Gullett (5-3) went the distance in the first game to pick up his fifth win of the season. He allowed four hits and a run in the ninth on a RBI single by Jose Morales, while striking out seven.
Tony Perez got the offense going for the Reds with a two-run double in the second inning off Montreal starter Steve Rogers, who would work seven innings giving up nine hits.
In the fifth, Johnny Bench tagged Rogers for a three-run homer to give the Reds a 5-0 advantage.
The Second Game
The second contest turned into a wild affair that was decided by an unearned run in extra innings.
Will McEnaney (2-2), who worked a perfect 11th frame, induced Expos leadoff batter Jerry White to hit a short grounder in front of the plate be begin the 12th.
Bench picked up the ball and fired it into right field for his first error of the season.
With their fourth hits of the game, Larry Biittner and Larry Parrish followed with singles to put the Expos on top. For Parrish, it was his fourth RBI.
Reds starting pitcher Gary Nolan drove in the first runs of the contest with a single in the second inning off his counterpart Steve Renko.
Renko got a bit of revenge in the third as Nolan walked him to start a rally for the Expos that ended with a two-run double by Parrish to tie it.
The Reds took a 3-2 lead in the fifth as an error by Expos shortstop Pepe Frias allowed a run to score. Frias had entered the game for Tim Foli, who was injured in the second inning.
A RBI ground out by Montreal’s Mike Jorgensen in the sixth tied the game for a second time.
Parrish put the Expos in front 4-3 with a RBI double in the seventh.
The Expos threatened against Nolan in the eighth, but he a bailed out of the trouble by Clay Carroll.
Dale Murray took over for Renko in the bottom of the eighth and retired all three hitters.
The bottom of the ninth proved to be a different story for Murray and he gave up a pinch-hit single to Dave Concepcion, who then swiped second.
One out later, Pete Rose tied it with a RBI single to send the game to extra innings.
Don DeMola slammed the door on the Reds in the 11th and 12th to earn the victory as he just allowed a walk to Terry Crowley before getting Concepcion to hit into a game-ending double play.
The two teams finish their three-game series as Fred Norman (3-4) takes the mound for the Reds with Woodie Fryman going to the Expos.
National League Standings
(Records involve games only with Reds)
East Division
1969 Mets (4-1)
1975 Expos (2-3)
2008 Phillies (1-6)
1967 Cardinals (0-0)
1971 Pirates (0-0)
2016 Cubs (0-0)
West Division
1975 Reds (30-16)
1954 Giants (2-2)
1957 Braves (2-3)
1981 Dodgers (2-5)
2017 Astros (2-5)
1975 Padres (1-5)