October 9, 1974: Garvey, Wynn, Sutton pace Dodgers’ rout of Pirates in NLCS clincher

Steve Garvey played on 10 All-Star teams for the Dodgers and Padres and holds the National League record for playing in 1,207 consecutive games. (SABR-Rucker Archive)

 

The Los Angeles Dodgers, returning to the postseason after an eight-year absence, beat the Pittsburgh Pirates twice on the road to open the 1974 National League Championship Series. When the action moved to California, the Pirates rallied with a shutout win, but the relentless Dodgers shrugged it off, riding Pittsburgh’s record-setting wildness, Jim Wynn and Steve Garvey’s power hitting, and Don Sutton’s second dominant start of the NLCS to a pennant-clinching 12-1 Game Four win on October 9 at Dodger Stadium.

After four straight second-place finishes in the NL West Division, manager Walter Alston’s 21st Dodgers team held off the Cincinnati Reds in 1974 for their first-ever division title and first postseason berth since the 1966 World Series.1 Los Angeles had transformed its roster during the early 1970s with younger players taken in the amateur draft (such as first baseman Garvey, second baseman Davey Lopes, third baseman Ron Cey, and shortstop Bill Russell)2 and veterans acquired in astute trades (such as starting pitcher Andy Messersmith, relief ace Mike Marshall, and center fielder Wynn).3 Sutton, who had blossomed into one of the NL’s top starters in his late 20s, linked the revamped Dodgers with their pennant-winning predecessors of 1966, his rookie year.4

The 102-win Dodgers faced the 88-win Pirates in the best-of-five NLCS. Pittsburgh had struggled for a season and a half after star right fielder Roberto Clemente’s death in a plane crash on New Year’s Eve 1972.5 But the ’74 Pirates won 30 of 45 games from July 14 through September 10 to surge from fourth place to first in the NL East,6 then conjured up just enough experience, firepower, and luck to outlast the St. Louis Cardinals for their fourth division title in five seasons.7

Pittsburgh had won eight of 12 regular-season games against the Dodgers,8 but Los Angeles went ahead in the NLCS with two wins at Three Rivers Stadium. Sutton, a 19-game winner in 1974, outdueled lefty Jerry Reuss with a four-hit shutout in the October 5 opener, limiting Pittsburgh to just one runner in scoring position.9 Messersmith’s strong start and three eighth-inning runs against the Pirates’ bullpen were decisive in Game Two.10

For the first half of the season, the Dodgers had a third frontline starter, left-hander Tommy John. John’s 13-3 record and 2.59 ERA included a shutout of Pittsburgh on June 4.11 But John had not pitched since tearing a ligament in his elbow in July,12 leading to reconstructive surgery on September 25.13

Without John, Alston opted for Doug Rau over Al Downing in Game Three at Dodger Stadium.14 The Pirates battered Rau for five first-inning runs, highlighted by Willie Stargell’s three-run homer, and rolled to a 7-0 win.15

Game Four was a rematch between the 29-year-old Sutton, whose only defeat in his previous 15 decisions had come against Pittsburgh on August 16,16 and the 25-year-old Reuss, the Pirates’ leader in wins and starts.17

Under brilliant midday sunshine on Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley’s 71st birthday, the Pirates went down in order in the first. Joe Ferguson hauled in Al Oliver’s drive at the wall in right for the third out, and Oliver pounded his fists in disappointment.18

Reuss’s control troubles began right away. Lopes, whose bases-loaded walk produced the only run against Reuss in Game One, took three straight balls, then drew a five-pitch leadoff walk. Two more balls preceded Bill Buckner’s popup to shortstop Mario Mendoza.19

Wynn was the third straight Dodger to get ahead 2-and-0. On the second ball, Lopes – second in the majors with 59 steals, trailing only the Cardinals’ record-setting Lou Brock20 – slid into second ahead of catcher Manny Sanguillén’s throw.21

Three pitches later, the 32-year-old Wynn, the Dodgers’ most productive player after coming from the Houston Astros in an offseason trade,22 ripped former Houston teammate Reuss’s offering 390 feet off the fence in left-center. The double scored Lopes for a 1-0 Los Angeles lead.

Three more Dodgers – Garvey, Ferguson, and Cey – batted in the first; Reuss fell behind each with two balls. Garvey’s groundout pushed Wynn to third and Ferguson walked on four pitches. But Stargell’s running, reaching, sun-splashed catch of Cey’s extra-base bid near the 360-foot sign in left ended the inning and kept it a one-run game.

Sutton dismissed mild threats in the second and third. Dave Parker reached on an infield single with one out in the second,23 but Sanguillén hit into a double play. The third inning began with six straight balls, as Ed Kirkpatrick walked and Sutton fell behind Mendoza 2-and-0. But Mendoza flied out and, after Reuss sacrificed Kirkpatrick to second, Sutton denied Rennie Stennett an RBI single by grabbing the Pittsburgh second baseman’s bouncer and throwing to first for the third out.

Reuss pitched a one-two-three second inning. He started the third with two groundouts before his control vanished again. Wynn walked on four pitches and Garvey, headed for NL Most Valuable Player honors at age 25, took three more balls. After a strike, Garvey connected on a line drive to right-center – “I don’t think I’ve ever hit a ball harder to right center,” he said afterward.24 The ball, which initially looked as though it would hit the wall,25 cleared it for a two-run homer. Wynn jumped for joy while rounding the bases.26 The Dodgers led, 3-0.

Before the inning was over, Reuss had issued his fourth walk of the game,27 and manager Danny Murtaugh called on lefty Ken Brett in relief. Brett, a NL All-Star who had missed five weeks in August and September because of an elbow injury,28 retired Cey for the third out.

Sutton, known throughout his career for a fast-dropping knuckle curveball,29 made it nine outs in a row with clean innings in the fourth and fifth. Murtaugh asked home-plate umpire John McSherry to check Sutton’s glove for pine tar before the Pirates batted in the fifth, but McSherry found nothing illegal.30

“The truth is that some of Sutton’s pitches were funny looking,” the Los Angeles Times observed. “Stargell and Al Oliver both struck out on pitches that broke so sharply they hit into the ground.”31

Parker threw out Lopes trying to stretch a single to right into a double to end the fourth, but the Dodgers’ attack of patience and power hitting returned in the fifth. Wynn walked with one out and Garvey pulled Brett’s inside slider into the seats in left between the foul pole and the Dodgers bullpen.32 Garvey’s second homer of the game gave Los Angeles a 5-0 lead.

The Dodgers turned it into a rout with three more multi-run innings against Pittsburgh’s bullpen. With Larry Demery on the mound in the sixth, Lopes tripled in Steve Yeager and continued home when Stennett’s relay throw to third went into the dugout.

After Stargell’s second home run in two days put the Pirates on the board in the seventh, the Dodgers answered with two runs against Demery and Dave Giusti. Russell’s line-drive single to left scored Garvey, and Sutton – who received standing ovations when he batted in both the sixth and seventh innings – drove in Russell on a bloop to right, the ball dropping beyond Stennett’s grasp for a single.

Three eighth-inning runs off Giusti made the Dodgers the first team with 12 in a League Championship Series game.33 Ferguson singled home Wynn, and Russell singled in Garvey and Ferguson. For the afternoon, Garvey had four hits, four runs, and four RBIs.

Alston let Sutton walk to the plate in the eighth before replacing him with pinch-hitter Manny Mota.34 The crowd of 54,424 gave Sutton another ovation.

“I’m not an emotional guy, but I got chills when [the ovation] happened,” Sutton said.35

Marshall went in for the ninth.36 On his way to the NL Cy Young Award and a third-place finish in the league’s MVP voting, the 31-year-old right-hander had appeared in a major-league record 106 games in 1974. He set down the side, fanning Richie Hebner on a screwball for the final out.

Los Angeles had a date with the two-time defending champion Oakland A’s in baseball’s first-ever all-California World Series.37 An LCS-record 11 walks38 – six of which led to runs – provided a steady supply of Dodgers baserunners, and Wynn and Garvey’s early-game slugging forged a formidable lead. Sutton’s 82-pitch masterpiece, closing out his NLCS ledger at 17 innings of 7-hit, 1-run, 13-strikeout pitching, ensured that the Pirates would get no closer.39

The highest postgame praise was for Sutton, who went on to record the Dodgers’ only win in the World Series.40

“Don Sutton won two of three Dodger victories over the Pirates,” Al Abrams noted in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “He had to be the hero of the series.”41

“I can’t remember two better pitched games in a row by one of our guys,” Alston said.42

Acknowledgements 

The author thanks SABR members Gary Belleville and Kurt Blumenau for their comments on an earlier draft of the article.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for pertinent information, including the box score and play-by-play. The author also reviewed game coverage in the Los Angeles Times, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and Pittsburgh Press newspapers, and a recording of the KDKA-AM (Pittsburgh) radio broadcast posted on YouTube by the Classic Baseball On The Radio account.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN197410090.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1974/B10090LAN1974.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NWonxC_PZ8

Notes

1 In 1973 the Dodgers led the Reds by 8½ games on July 17 but fell out of first by losing 11 of 12 games from August 31 through September 12. Los Angeles finished second to Cincinnati by four games. The 1974 Dodgers had a 10½-game lead on July 10, only to see the Reds close the gap to 1½ games on September 14. Los Angeles’ 7-1 win over Cincinnati on September 15, with Sutton pitching a complete game and Garvey and Wynn hitting home runs, proved the turning point, as the Dodgers went on to clinch the division on the next-to-last day of the season. Ron Rapoport, “The Dodgers’ Swoon: From 8½ Games in Front, Los Angeles Has Fallen 3 Games Back Due to Prolonged Batting Slump, Injuries, Inexperience of Youth,” Los Angeles Times, September 10, 1973: III, 1; Jeff Prugh, “A Toy Cannonade: Wynn Slams Reds, 7-1; Lead Now 2½,” Los Angeles Times, September 16, 1974: III, 1; Jeff Prugh, “Dodgers Finally Run It Up Flagpole,” Los Angeles Times, October 2, 1974: III, 1; Ross Newhan and Jeff Prugh, “How the Dodgers Won the West: Change in Alston’s Psychology Helped Motivate the Club,” Los Angeles Times, October 3, 1974: III, 1.

2 Of the Dodgers’ top 11 players in Wins Above Replacement in 1974, as determined by Baseball-Reference.com, seven were amateur draft selections from 1966 through 1968: Cey (June 1968), Garvey (June 1968), Lopes (January 1968), catcher-right fielder Joe Ferguson (June 1968), left fielder Bill Buckner (June 1968), Russell (June 1966), and catcher Steve Yeager (June 1967).

3 The Dodgers obtained Messersmith in a seven-player deal with the California Angels in November 1972. During baseball’s winter meetings in December 1973, Los Angeles acquired Marshall from the Montreal Expos for outfielder Willie Davis, and Wynn from the Houston Astros for pitcher Claude Osteen. Ron Rapoport, “Dodgers Trade Robinson to Angels: Messersmith, Valentine, Singer Also Switch Teams in 7-Player Deal,” Los Angeles Times, November 29, 1972: III, 1; Ross Newhan, “Davis and Dodgers Get the Trade They Wanted: Captain’s Split With Alston Said to Be Factor in Marshall Deal,” Los Angeles Times, December 6, 1973: III, 1; Ross Newhan, “Wynn No Longer Has Roof Over His Head … He’s Happy: Dodgers Give Up Osteen and Free the Toy Cannon from Astrodome,” Los Angeles Times, December 7, 1973: III, 1.

4 The Dodgers relocated from Brooklyn to Los Angeles in 1958 and won the World Series in 1959, 1963, and 1965. They won another NL pennant in 1966 but were swept by the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series.

5 The Pirates, who had won three NL East Division titles and the 1971 World Series from 1970 through 1972, finished third in the division in 1973 with an 80-82 record. In 1974 Pittsburgh was in last place in its six-team division as late as June 12, and the Pirates were 12 games under .500 at 37-49 after losing the first game of a July 14 doubleheader with the Reds. Bob Smizik, “The Autopsy: Bucs Weren’t a Very Good Team,” Pittsburgh Press, October 3, 1973: 71; Bob Smizik, “Here Are the Answers to All Those Pirate Questions,” Pittsburgh Press, June 30, 1974: D-4.

6 Jeff Samuels, “Pirates Sweep Into First, 4-1, 10-2,” Pittsburgh Press, August 26, 1974: 24.

7 In the season’s final three weeks, Pittsburgh had a six-game losing streak and fell out of first place twice. The Pirates finally broke a tie with the Cardinals, beating the Chicago Cubs with late-inning rallies in the final two games of the season. Bob Smizik, “Plunge of ’74: Can Pirates Climb Back?” Pittsburgh Press, September 17, 1974: 27; Jeff Samuels, “Cards Fight Off Death, Stagger Pirates, 13-12,” Pittsburgh Press, September 26, 1974: 32; Bob Smizik, “Robertson’s Shot Wounds Cardinals: Pirates Near Title, 6-5,” Pittsburgh Press, October 2, 1974: 65; Bob Smizik, “Pirates Blunder Into Division Title,” Pittsburgh Press, October 3, 1974: 35.

8 Jeff Samuels, “Pirates Figure They Have Dodgers’ Number,” Pittsburgh Press, October 4, 1974: 38.

9 Bill Shirley, “Sutton Gives the Pirates Nothing for Openers, 3-0: Dodgers Go 1 Up in NL Playoffs Behind Right-Hander’s 4-Hitter,” Los Angeles Times, October 6, 1974: III, 1; Bob Smizik, “Sutton Muzzles Pirates, 3-0,” Pittsburgh Press, October 6, 1974: D-1.

10 Bill Shirley, “Dodgers (2-0) Have the Last Cey in Pittsburgh, 5-2: L.A. Comes Home, Needs One More,” Los Angeles Times, October 7, 1974: III, 1; Bob Smizik, “Dodgers Leave Pirates for Dead: Buc Hitters, Giusti Fail in 5-2 Defeat,” Pittsburgh Press, October 7, 1974: 24.

11 In two starts against the Pirates in 1974, John allowed one run in 16 innings for an 0.56 ERA. Bob Smizik, “Pirates No Match for the Kids of Summer,” Pittsburgh Press, June 5, 1974: 34; Ross Newhan, “Wynn Is Ailing … So Are Dodgers: L.A., Sagging, Loses Again; Center Fielder May Need Surgery,” Los Angeles Times, June 19, 1974: III, 1.

12 Jeff Prugh, “John Hurt as Dodgers Lose to Expos, 5-4; Lead Now 5½,” Los Angeles Times, July 18, 1974: III, 1.

13 Ross Newhan, “Tommy John: Portrait in Blue,” Los Angeles Times, October 3, 1974: III, 1. After a second operation in December 1974, John spent the 1975 season rehabilitating. He returned to the mound for the Dodgers in April 1976 and pitched in the major leagues until the 1989 season, retiring at age 46. Dr. Frank Jobe’s pioneering procedure, which involved harvesting a tendon from John’s right wrist and using it to replace the ruptured ulnar collateral ligament in John’s left elbow, became commonly known as Tommy John surgery.

14 Bill Shirley, “Stargell and the REAL Pirates Get off the Deck, 7-0,” Los Angeles Times, October 9, 1974: III, 1.

15 “Pittsburgh scored five runs so fast it looked as if they got them off Tommy John, the disabled Dodger left-hander, who had the honor of throwing out the first pitch right-handed,” the Los Angeles Times remarked. Shirley, “Stargell and the REAL Pirates Get off the Deck, 7-0.”

16 Jeff Prugh, “Dodgers Keep the Pressure on … Themselves,” Los Angeles Times, August 17, 1974: III, 1.

17 Pittsburgh had obtained Reuss from the Astros in an October 1973 trade for catcher Milt May.

18 Al Abrams, “Sidelights on Sports: Contrasting Heroes, Sutton and Garvey,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 10, 1974: 15.

19 Frank Taveras, in his first full major-league season after September call-ups in 1971 and 1972, was Pittsburgh’s regular shortstop going into the NLCS. He was sidelined after Messersmith hit him on the thumb with a pitch in Game Two, and Mendoza, who made his big-league debut by appearing in 91 games with the Pirates in 1974, started at shortstop for the rest of the series. Charley Feeney, “Pirates Holding Out for One Small Miracle,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 8, 1974: 14.

20 Brock stole 118 bases in 1974, setting a major-league record that Rickey Henderson broke with 130 steals in 1982.

21 Lopes had two steals against Reuss at Dodger Stadium in June. Ross Newhan, “John Stops Pirates on 5 Hits, 5-0, First NL 9-Game Winner,” Los Angeles Times, June 5, 1974: III,1.

22 Wynn led the Dodgers in runs scored (104), home runs (32), on-base percentage (.387), and slugging percentage (.497). Baseball-Reference credited him with 7.7 Wins Above Replacement, the most of any Dodger.

23 Parker, in his second major-league season, started in right field instead of Richie Zisk, who led the Pirates with 100 RBIs but went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts against Sutton in Game One.

24 Bob Smizik, “Sutton Death: Dodgers Don NL Title Garb,” Pittsburgh Press, October 10. 1974: 32.

25 “Garvey’s vicious smash did not look as if it was going out, but if it hadn’t cleared the wall it would have gone through it,” reported the Los Angeles Times. Bill Shirley, “Garvey Hits 2 Home Runs; Sutton Superb as L.A. Routs Pirates, 12-1,” Los Angeles Times, October 10, 1974: III, 1; Charley Feeney, “Sutton Death for Bucs; L.A., 12-1,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 10, 1974: 15.

26 Abrams, “Sidelights on Sports.”

27 Pittsburgh traded Reuss to the Dodgers in April 1979. In nine seasons with Los Angeles, Reuss had an 86-69 record, pitching a no-hitter against the San Francisco Giants in 1980 and finishing as runner-up to Steve Carlton of the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1980 NL Cy Young Award voting. When the Dodgers won the World Series in 1981, Reuss had two postseason victories, including a shutout in the decisive Game Five of the National League Division Series against the Astros and a one-run complete game in Game Five of the World Series against the New York Yankees. He also appeared in postseason games for the Dodgers in 1983 and 1985.

28 Bob Smizik, “Brett’s Elbow OK as Bucs Handle Cubs, 12-4,” Pittsburgh Press, September 11, 1974: 59.

29 Jim Murray, “Two Young for Curves,” Los Angeles Times, April 25, 1967: III, 1.

30 John Hall, “Pirates Go Home Without a Bang … or a Whimper,” Los Angeles Times, October 10, 1974: III, 1.

31 Shirley, “Garvey Hits 2 Home Runs.” Sutton was frequently accused of “doctoring” balls during his 23-season Hall of Fame career; in 1978 he was ejected from a Dodgers-Cardinals game for what umpire Doug Harvey labeled “pitching a defaced baseball.” Neal Russo, “Cardinals ‘Scuff Up’ Outraged Sutton, Dodgers,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 15, 1978: 5A.

32 Fred Antman, “Sports Hotline,” Palm Springs (California) Desert Sun, October 10, 1974: B3.

33 The Dodgers held the LCS record until the Yankees scored 13 runs against the Oakland A’s in Game Two of the 1981 American League Championship Series; the 1984 Chicago Cubs were the first team to score 13 runs in an NLCS game. As of 2023, the record for runs in an LCS game was 19, set by the New York Yankees in the 2004 ALCS. The Dodgers have the NLCS record with 15 runs against the Atlanta Braves in 2020.

34 Juan Pizarro, in the final appearance of an 18-season major-league career, relieved Giusti and got Mota to hit into a double play to close out the eighth.

35 Smizik, “Sutton Death.”

36 Bill Christine, “Except for Cey, Dodgers React Calmly to Clincher,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 10, 1974: 15.

37 Oakland defeated the Dodgers in the World Series, four games to one.

38 As of 2023, Los Angeles’ 11 walks drawn remained an LCS record. On the same day as this game, the A’s drew 11 walks against the Orioles, and the Cleveland Indians issued the Yankees 11 walks in Game Five of the 1998 ALCS. The postseason record for walks in a game is 12, first allowed by the Astros in the 14-inning Game Three of the 2005 World Series against the Chicago White Sox and equaled by the Yankees in Game Two of the 2020 American League wild-card series against the Indians.

39 The author determined Sutton’s pitch count by reviewing a recording of the game’s radio broadcast.

40 The NL did not implement a LCS MVP Award until the 1977 season.

41 Abrams, “Sidelights on Sports.”

42 Smizik, “Sutton Death.”