1972 Athletics Shutdown '75 Reds, Capture Game 2

OAKLAND – Catfish Hunter silenced the vaunted 1975 Cincinnati Reds’ offense, silencing them on just three hits Tuesday as the ’72 A’s scored a 4-1 victory in Game 2 of the @JackSacco6 @sacco_john “Best Teams of the 1970s” Strat-O-Matic World Series.

Oakland leads the series 2-0 as the scene shifts to Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium for Games 3 and 4 and Game 5, if necessary.

The A’s have won the first two games by identical 4-1 scores.

Hot-hitting Matty Alou belted a home run and double and second baseman Ted Kubiak delivered a big two-run single in the second inning after catcher Dave Duncan singled and moved to third on a single by shortstop Bert Campaneris, who stole second.

Duncan extended Oakland’s lead to 3-0 with two-out, single off Cincinnati starter and loser Don Gullett. 

Alou’s solo home run in the fifth inning made it 4-0. Alou is five-for-seven (.714) in the Series. Mike Epstein hit a pinch-hit double for the A’s. He is three-for-five (.600) in the Series.

Hunter struck out six and did not walk a batter. His only blemish was an eighth-inning home run by Reds’ centerfielder Cesar Geronimo.

The Big Red Machine has mustered just two runs in the first two games of the Series and went zero-for-eight with men on base in Game 2. In the series, Cincinnati has just four hits in 25 at bats (.160) with men on base.

The Reds’ offensive struggles are highlighted by the failings of lead-off hitter Pete Rose and slugger Tony Perez, who are combined zero-for-17, zero-for-nine and zero-for-seven, respectively.

Cincinnati did not score a run the first seven innings of either of the first two games.

Teams of the 1970s World Series

Game 2

1975 Reds    000 000 010-1  3   0

1972 A’s       021 010 00x-4  10  2

WP-Catfish Hunter (1-0)

LP-Don Gullett (0-1)

HRs-Oakland: Matty Alou (1)

          Cincinnati: Cesar Geronimo (1)

2Bs-Oakland: Alou and Epstein

RBI-Oakland: Kubiak, Duncan and Alou

         Cincinnati: Geronimo

SB-Oakland: Campaneris

Pitching

Name, IP, H, SO, BB, R, ER

Oakland

Hunter (9 IP, 3 H, 6 SO, 0 BB, 1 R, 1 ER)

Cincinnati

Gullett (5 IP, 7 H, 4 SO, 1 BB, 4 R, 4 ER)

Eastwick (2/3 IP, 2 H, 2 SO, 0 BB, 0 R, 0 ER)

Norman (1-1/3 IP, 0 H, 1 SO, 0 BB, 0 R, 0 ER)

T. Carroll (1 IP, 1 H, 0 SO, 0 BB, 0 R, 0 ER)

My blog will appear on a regular basis and will focus on sports, opinions, notes, features, fiction, and some trivia for good measure,

John Sacco

sacman18@comcast.net

@sacco_john