Walking Off - Cincinnati Reds Playoff Style

This great season has been highlighted by some amazing moments. From the first win of the season back on April 8 courtesy of a Jonny Gomes walk-off home run against the Cardinals to the NL Central clinching J-bomb unleashed by Jay Bruce on the 28th of September against the Astros, this has been a season to remember for Reds fans everywhere. Based on what we've seen this season I'm sure we will see more of the same in the coming weeks. Since we can't look ahead, here is a look back at the walk-off wins in Reds playoff history.

October 6, 1973

Johnny Bench drilled a home run with one out in the ninth to give the Reds a 2-1 win over the Mets in the NLCS. Tom Seaver, the 1973 NL Cy Young winner, had held the Reds scoreless on four hits unto Pete Rose homered in the eighth to tie the game at one. Seaver got Tony Perez to ground out to short for the first out of the inning. That brought Bench to the plate in a battle between future Hall-of-Famers that JB won. Bench for the day finished 3-for-4 with the game winning RBI.

October 14, 1975

Game Three of the 75 Series saw the teams tied at a game apiece. The Reds jumped out to a 5-1 lead after five innings but Boston came back to tie it up when Dwight Evans homered in the top of the ninth. Bonus baseball ensued and the Red Sox went down in order in the top of the tenth. Cesar Geronimo led off the bottom of the frame with a single to right. Ed Armbrister pinch hit for Rawly Eastwick and laid down a bunt in front of the plate and then, in what some might call a controversial move, got tangled up with Pudge Fisk. Fisk attempted an ill advised throw to second to try to get Geronimo but the ball instead the ball got away, both runners advanced an extra base and the Reds were in business. Roger Moret came in as a reliever and Pete Rose was then intentionally walked. Merv Rettunmund then pinch hit for Ken Griffey and promptly struck out. Joe Morgan then singled to center with the count 1-2 and Geronimo came home with the winning run.

October 12, 1976

The Reds came to bat in the bottom of ninth of Game Three of the NLCS trailing 6-4. George Foster led off with a home to draw the Reds to within one. Johnny Bench then made it back-to-back jacks to tie the game up off Ron Reed. Reed was then replaced by Gene Garber and gave up a single to Davey Concepcion. Garber was given the hook in favor of Tom Underwood who promptly walked the eigth place hitter Cesar Geronimo. Just as in 1975 Ed Armbrister was sent up to pinch hit for Rawly Eastwick and again laid down a sacrifice. This one was without controversy and advanced both runners. Pete Rose was intentionally walked to load the bases and bring up Ken Griffey. Unlike 1975, when Sparky sent up a hitter for him, Griffey was allowed to bat and hit an infield single to score Concepcion with the run that sent the Reds back to the World Series.

October 17, 1976

In Game Two of the World Series the Reds jumped out to an early 3-0 lead. The Yankees rallied to tie the game at three in the top of the seventh. Still tied in the bottom of the ninth Catfish Hunter recorded two easy outs by getting Concepcion on a short fly to center and Pete Rose to fly out to left. Ken Griffey then reached second base on an error by shortstop Fred Stanley. With two outs Joe Morgan was intentionally walked to set up a force play but Tony Perez lined a single to left to score Griffey and the Reds had a two game lead in the Series.

October 17, 1990

The Reds trailed Oakland 4-3 entering the bottom of the eighth inning. Billy Hatcher led off with a triple and later scored on a Glenn Braggs fielder choice. Eric Davis struck out to lead off the tenth bringing pinch hitter Billy Bates to the plate. Bates reached on a weak ground ball back to the pitcher. Chris Sabo singled through the hole into left field advancing Bates to second. Joe Oliver then grounded an 0-1 pitch into left to score Bates and give the Reds a two game advantage over the stunned A's.