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 offense had its second highest output of the season as the Reds posted a 13-5 victory over the Chicago Cubs in a windy Wrigley Field.
It was the sixth time the Reds reached double figures in scoring with the best production coming in a 15-5 win at Riverfront Stadium over Houston.
Four errors by the Cubs in the first two innings helped with the barrage as the Reds built a 6-0 lead against Chicago starter Jake Arrieta.
Johnny Bench had a RBI single in the first, while Joe Morgan and George Foster added run-scoring singles in the second. The other three runs came home on errors.
With the uncertain weather conditions inside the “Friendly Confines” of Wrigley, Arrieta was still on the mound in the third when he walked Morgan with the bases loaded.
The Cubs rallied in the fourth with three runs to cut the deficit to 7-3.
Ben Zobrist had a RBI double that was followed by a two-run homer from Jason Heyward.
However in the fifth, the Reds didn’t need any help from Chicago’s defense or the wind.
Pete Rose and Ken Griffey picked up RBI singles that ended Arrieta’s day, but it was Foster’s three-run blast off Travis Wood that landed on Waveland Avenue that sealed the deal for the Reds.
Reds starting pitcher Gary Nolan even got into the act with a run-scoring single in the sixth for the final tally of the contest for Cincinnati.
Nolan (6-4) went the distance on the mound allowing 11 hits with six strikeouts. He gave up two more homers to the Cubs with Zobrist banging a long ball in the sixth and Addison Russell adding one in the ninth.
Griffey led the Reds with four of the team’s 17 hits.
Fred Norman (5-4) gets the start for the Reds in the middle affair of the three-game series as Kyle Hendricks takes the mound for the Cubs.
National League Standings
(Records involve games only with Reds)
East Division
1969 Mets (4-1)
1971 Pirates (3-2)
2016 Cubs (2-3)
1975 Expos (2-4)
1967 Cardinals (1-4)
2008 Phillies (1-6)
West Division
1975 Reds (40-22)
1954 Giants (2-2)
1957 Braves (2-3)
1981 Dodgers (2-5)
2017 Astros (2-5)
1975 Padres (1-5)