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154 Chapter 32. July 1975 Timeline Mark Miller and Mark Armour All headlines below are from the next day’s edition of the Springfield (OH) News. July 1—reds win 29th in last 36, nip astros again in 15th, 8–7—The headline was actually incorrect; they had won thirty of their past thirty-eight games. Nonetheless, the club started July with its fourth extra-inning victory in five days (and its eighth consecutive win in extra-inning contests). The Reds needed a threerun ninth-inning rally to tie the score in regulation , and then patiently waited until Joe Morgan knocked in the winning run with a single in the fifteenth for an 8–7 win. Morgan had homered back in the eighth, and Pat Darcy, the sixth Reds pitcher of the night, picked up the victory. The team’s errorless-game streak ended at fifteen games when left fielder Dan Driessen committed an error in the fifth inning. July 2—foster hits 480-foot homer, reds sweep houston—Speaking of his long home run, George Foster said that he had “hit a golf ball further but not a baseball.” The Reds spotted the Astros three runs in the first inning, but Foster’s three-run blast in the sixth gave them a 4–3 lead that held up as the final score. Rawly Eastwick relieved Tom Carroll and finished up allowing one hit in four scoreless innings. The Reds finished their home stand with a 6-1 record. July 3—padres’ jones hurls one-hitter as reds lose, 2–1—The Reds headed to San Diego for a four-game series and managed just an eighth-inning run-scoring double by Bill Plummer in their 2–1 loss to Randy Jones. Gary Nolan was nearly as sharp, allowing just two hits in eight innings . Will McEnaney relieved in the ninth and allowed two hits before losing the game on an error by right fielder Ed Armbrister. July 4—billingham’s hit helps overcome poor pitching—Jack Billingham did not pitch well (six hits, five walks, and five runs in 5⅓ innings ) but picked up the victory thanks in part to his own run-scoring single in the Reds’ four-run second inning. The Reds piled up thirteen hits and held on for the 7–6 win. Johnny Bench’s seventeenth home run led the attack. July 5—padres’ errors help reds triumph , 6–3—Two San Diego errors led to four unearned runs, allowing the Reds to win their second straight in San Diego, 6–3. Fred Norman collected his fourth win and Rawly Eastwick his third save in combining to give up just seven hits. The hitters were paced by a pinch-hit two-run double by Merv Rettenmund in a three-run seventh inning. July 6—reds maintain eight-game lead, swamp padres 13–2—The Reds took three of the four games in San Diego by routing the Padres , 13–2. Clay Kirby pitched five effective innings before Pedro Borbon came in and allowed just one hit in four scoreless innings. Pete Rose (hitting .313) and Joe Morgan (hitting .356) each had three hits while George Foster, Darrel Chaney, and Morgan drove in two runs apiece. July 7—reds rolling so smoothly even sparky is amazed—Returning home to Cincinnati , Tony Pérez stroked his eleventh home run and George Foster his fifteenth as the Reds defeated july 1975 timeline 155 Steve Carlton and the Phillies, 7–3. Pérez’s two-run red-seat (upper-deck) home run was, in his own words, “the best I can hit one.” Johnny Bench had three hits for the Reds, winners of four in a row. July 8—phils downgrade nolan’s pitching , reds keep winning—The Reds managed just two runs, but that was enough for Gary Nolan and Rawly Eastwick, who combined on a six hitter to beat the Phillies, 2–1. George Foster got four of the Reds’ eight hits, including a double that led to their first run. After the game the Phillies denigrated Nolan’s pitching, comparing him to their batting-practice pitcher. Nolan was now 8-5 with a 2.82 era. July 9—“no way we can lose now,” anderson says—The Reds completed a series sweep of the Phillies in a 9–7 slugfest, their twenty-seventh come-from-behind victory of the season. The Reds trailed 5–4 entering the bottom of the eighth inning . Johnny Bench tied...

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