BENCH'S CYCLE KEYS REDS' 22-RUN ATTACK
Cincinnati Sets Season Best Scoring Mark
CINCINNATI, July 29 (AP) - Johnny Bench became the first National League player
this season to hit for the cycle and the Cincinnati Reds set a new major league
scoring mark for the year in a 22-6 pummeling of the San Diego Padres at
Riverfront Stadium. Bench's big day included a grand slam, which completed
the cycle, in the seventh inning; the Reds catcher also scored four runs and
drove in a season high six.
Given the 16-run Cincinnati bulge it's hard to believe that the Padres led at
one point in the game. The Reds scored a pair of first inning runs when
Bench drew a bases loaded walk from Padres starter Dave Freisleben and Tony
Perez followed with a sacrifice fly. But the Padres answered with three
runs in the second off Cincinnati starter Pat Zachry on Enzo Hernandez's RBI
fielder's choice and consecutive run-scoring singles off the bats of Jerry
Turner and Tito Feuntes.
The Reds drove Freisleben from the game with a four-run third. Joe Morgan
drew a one-out walk, stole second and then jogged home on George Foster's 26th
home run of the season. Bench then doubled and scored one out later on
Cesar Geronimo's single. After Dave Concepcion chased Geronimo to third
with a base hit, Zachry aided his own cause with a single to right-center,
scoring Geronimo to give the Reds a 6-3 lead. That was it for Freisleben;
Kevin Reynolds replaced him and retired Pete Rose on a grounder to short to end
the inning.
The Padres fought back with a pair of runs in the fourth. Zachry's
control, or lack thereof, was a major contributor to the San Diego rally.
Turner drew a lead-off walk and advanced to third on Fuentes' single.
Johnny Grubb drew a free pass of his own to load the bases and consecutive RBI
ground outs from Dave Winfield and Mike Ivie brought the Padres to within 6-5.
That's as close as San Diego would get. The Reds blew the game wide open
with five runs in the bottom of the fourth, doing all of their damage with two
outs. Ken Griffey drew a lead-off walk and took second on Morgan's ground
out. Foster rolled to third for the second out but Reynolds just couldn't
nail down the third out of the inning. Bench tripled when his drive off
the left-center field wall eluded Winfield and Turner, plating Griffey to make
the score 7-5. Perez was walked intentionally but Geronimo then drew an
unintentional walk to fill the bases. Concepcion's single scored Bench and
Zachry followed by rolling a ground ball just out of the reach of Ivie at first
base for a double, scoring all three baserunners to give Cincinnati a commanding
11-5 lead.
But the Reds weren't done scoring--not by a long shot. Morgan led off the
fifth with a double and scored on Foster's base hit to make it 12-5. Two
more runs scored in the sixth when Rose homered with the bases empty and
Morgan's double drove home Griffey, who had singled.
But the coup de grace came in the seventh. With Butch Metzger on the hill
for San Diego, Bench reached on an infield single and took second when Perez
walked. Geronimo dropped a single into center to load the bases.
Concepcion's sacrifice fly to right scored Bench, making the score 15-5, and
advanced Perez to third. Reds pitcher Jack Billingham, who had relieved
Zachry in the top of the seventh, drew Metzger's second free pass of the frame,
refilling the bases. Rose popped up for the second out but Griffey loooped
a single to right, scoring Perez and Geronimo. Morgan and Foster then drew
back-to-back walks, forcing home two more runs, but leaving the bases
loaded. That set up Bench who crushed a 1-1 pitch into the left field
seats for a grand slam, completing the cycle and capping Cincinnati's scoring at
22.
Ivie's sacrifice fly in the top of the eighth scored Grubb with a consolation
run for the Padres but it wasn't nearly enough as Billingham closed out the game
to give the Reds a 22-6 victory.
This was the first time all year that any major league team reached the 20-run
mark in a single game. The previous high was 19, held by the Reds and New
York Yankees.
The only other big league player to hit for the cycle thus far this season is
Ken McMullen of the Oakland Athletics, who accomplished the feat on May 27 in a
6-5 home victory over the Minnesota Twins.
7/29/1976, SD 76-Cin76, Riverfront Stadium 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1976 Padres 0 3 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 6 14 0 12 0 1976 Reds 2 0 4 5 1 2 8 0 x 22 20 0 9 2 Padres AB R H BI AVG Reds AB R H BI AVG Turner lf 4 1 1 1 .333 Rose 3b 5 1 1 1 .328 Fuentes 2b 5 1 2 1 .270 Bailey 3b 1 0 0 0 .320 Metzger,B p 0 0 0 0 .000 Griffey rf 5 4 3 2 .325 Grubb rf 4 1 3 0 .270 Morgan,J 2b 3 3 2 1 .335 Winfield cf 5 0 1 1 .243 Flynn pr 0 1 0 0 .281 Rettenmund cf 0 0 0 0 .253 Foster,G lf 5 1 3 4 .337 Ivie 1b 4 0 0 2 .270 Armbrister pr 0 1 0 0 .350 Rader,Do 3b 2 1 1 0 .272 Bench c 5 4 4 6 .260 Torres,H ph 1 0 0 0 .196 Plummer c 0 0 0 0 .224 Kendall c 4 0 3 0 .254 Perez,T 1b 3 2 0 1 .248 Hernandez,E ss 4 1 2 1 .320 Geronimo cf 5 3 3 1 .291 Freisleben p 2 1 1 0 .265 Concepcion ss 5 1 2 2 .280 Reynolds,K p 0 0 0 0 .000 Zachry p 3 0 2 4 .077 Foster,A p 0 0 0 0 .040 Youngblood ph 1 0 0 0 .118 Davis,W ph 1 0 0 0 .233 Billingham p 1 1 0 0 .256 Tomlin p 0 0 0 0 .000 42 22 20 22 Kubiak ph 2 0 0 0 .201 38 6 14 6 Padres INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Freisleben L 5-8 2.2 7 6 6 3 0 75 43 3.82 Reynolds,K 1.0 3 5 5 3 0 32 14 10.09 Foster,A 0.1 0 0 0 1 0 6 1 2.76 Tomlin 2.0 5 3 3 0 2 38 24 4.19 Metzger,B 2.0 5 8 8 4 1 50 29 3.47 8.0 20 22 22 11 3 201 111 Reds INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Zachry W 9-4 6.0 10 5 5 5 3 116 65 2.98 Billingham S 1 3.0 4 1 1 0 0 39 20 4.77 9.0 14 6 6 5 3 155 85 SD : Davis,W batted for Foster,A in the 5th Kubiak batted for Tomlin in the 7th Kubiak moved to 2b in the 7th Torres,H batted for Rader,Do in the 8th Rettenmund inserted at cf in the 8th Torres,H moved to 3b in the 8th Cin: Youngblood batted for Zachry in the 6th Flynn ran for Morgan,J in the 7th Armbrister ran for Foster,G in the 7th Bailey inserted at 3b in the 8th Flynn moved to 2b in the 8th Armbrister moved to lf in the 8th Plummer inserted at c in the 8th 2B-Rader,Do(14), Hernandez,E(9), Morgan,J 2(20), Bench(20), Zachry(1). 3B-Bench(1). HR-Rose(9), Foster,G(26), Bench(7). RBI-Turner(22), Fuentes(32), Winfield(44), Ivie 2(23), Hernandez,E(16), Rose(50), Griffey 2(34), Morgan,J(89), Foster,G 4(86), Bench 6(48), Perez,T(72), Geronimo(40), Concepcion 2(52), Zachry 4(4). SB-Griffey(19), Morgan,J(30). K-Grubb, Winfield, Ivie, Bench, Perez,T, Billingham. BB-Turner, Grubb, Rader,Do 2, Hernandez,E, Rose, Griffey, Morgan,J 3, Foster,G, Bench, Perez,T 2, Geronimo, Billingham. SF-Ivie, Perez,T, Concepcion. HBP-Kendall. HB-Zachry. GWRBI: Foster,G Temperature: 71, Sky: clear, Wind: right to left at 9 MPH. Attendance: 38,596 Game Time: 3:09