October 11, 1981: Reuss, Dodgers knock out Ryan, Astros in Game 5

The Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros played several high-stakes, season-deciding games in 1980 and 1981. In 1980 the Dodgers needed a sweep of the Astros over the final weekend to force a playoff. They got the sweep but lost the tiebreaker game, and Houston qualified for its first postseason. The split-season format resulting from the 1981 players strike led to a division series between the winners of the two halves. The Cincinnati Reds had the best overall record, but the NL West Division championship would be decided between the Dodgers and Astros.

Houston opened with two wins at the Astrodome before the series shifted to Dodger Stadium, and Los Angeles required another sweep. The Dodgers won the next two, setting up a deciding Game Five.

The Game Five pitching matchup suggested that runs would be at a premium. Nolan Ryan had been masterly against the Dodgers in two prior outings. On September 26 Ryan no-hit the Dodgers while registering 11 strikeouts. In Game One of the Division Series, Ryan allowed two hits and a single run for the win. Before the game, Ryan exhibited the confidence of the proverbial man in the arena. He said, “I love these situations. I’m a lot happier being a participant than a spectator. … The Dodgers aren’t going to beat me.”1 Ryan’s previous starts were made at the Astrodome, however, and he entered Game Five with a 0-5 career record at Dodger Stadium.

Jerry Reuss was not the same sort of pitcher as Ryan. Reuss never racked up large strikeout totals; instead, he relied on groundballs easily vacuumed up by the Dodgers infielders. Former teammate and current Astros starter Don Sutton commented, “Jerry has had one of the great invisible seasons any pitcher has ever had.”2 His quiet efficiency had perhaps been lost amid the excitement around Fernando Valenzuela’s rookie campaign, but the Astros should have taken note. In addition to going 10-4 with a 2.30 ERA, Reuss had pitched 26 innings against Houston in 1981 and allowed only two runs, including nine scoreless frames in a Game Two loss in extra innings. Before Game Five, Reuss mused, “Everybody thinks about a situation like this where everything comes down directly to your performance.”3

In the top of the first, Reuss set down the Astros in order with two fly balls and a groundout. In the Dodgers first, a Phil Garner two-out error allowed Dusty Baker to reach base, but Steve Garvey’s grounder to Art Howe ended the inning. The pitchers’ duel was on.

Reuss worked out of some jams in the next two innings, and it seemed likely that the occasion had him amped up. He later observed, “The ball was all over the place, The ball was jumping around. I might just have been too damn excited.”4 In the second, José Cruz singled to left with one out and Denny Walling reached base on shortstop Bill Russell’s error. Reuss, though, recovered to get grounders from Dickie Thon and Alan Ashby to retire the Astros. Reuss walked Ryan to open the third, followed by a fielder’s choice with Terry Puhl at bat. Puhl stole second to get into scoring position. Again, Reuss induced grounders when he needed them as Garner and Tony Scott bounced balls to third baseman Pedro Guerrero. Meanwhile, Ryan walked Guerrero in the Dodgers second; Guerrero worked his way to third before Russell’s fly ball to Cruz in left field ended the inning. In the Dodgers third, Davey Lopes’s one-out single and Thon’s throwing error on a groundball from Ken Landreaux placed Dodgers at second and third with one out. The inning ended without further incident as Thon cleanly fielded a popup from Baker and a grounder from Garvey.

After five scoreless frames, the first crooked number arrived on the scoreboard in the sixth. Initially, it seemed the Astros might take the lead. Reuss allowed a leadoff walk to Scott, but the Astros center fielder was thrown out attempting to steal second base with Howe at bat. Howe singled to right and Houston fans had to wonder if Scott would have scored had his theft attempt been successful. Reuss gave up another walk, this time to Cruz. With two on and one out, Reuss dodged another threat. Catcher Mike Scioscia claimed Walling’s pop fly in foul territory and Russell gathered Thon’s grounder to force Cruz at second.

After Landreaux led off the Dodgers sixth with a fly out, Baker and Ryan squared off in a nine-pitch battle. With the count full, Ryan’s eighth pitch resulted in a pop foul, but a potentially decisive one. Walling, playing first base after César Cedeño pulled a hamstring in Game Four,5 drifted into foul territory but lost the ball in the sun. He turned and pointed upward as if to direct the sprinting Garner to the ball. Garner, though, was unable to cover enough ground from second base as the ball landed on the warning track. Ryan’s next pitch was low and Baker claimed first base. Afterward, Ryan called the walk the “turning point.”6

Baker attempted three times to steal second base, but Garvey fouled off pitches each time. With a 2-and-2 count and Thon cheating toward second base, Garvey’s grounder found a hole between Howe and Thon. Dodger Stadium came alive with runners at the corners and Rick Monday coming to the plate. Monday hit a liner into right, allowing Baker to score the game’s first run and advancing Garvey to second. After Guerrero popped up to Garner for the second out, Scioscia whacked a first-pitch curveball into center field to score Garvey for a 2-0 lead. The Dodgers added one more run when Russell’s chopper to Howe led to an off-balance throw that required Walling to reach for the ball in the direction of the charging Russell. The resulting contact caused the ball to roll away and scored Monday from second. The Dodgers led, 3-0. Ryan struck out Reuss for the third out, but it seemed inconsequential. When Reuss came out for the seventh, he was in a more relaxed frame of mind. He said, “When we got that field goal, I was happy as hell.”7

Ashby started the seventh by hitting a hopper to Guerrero, who muffed the play, allowing Ashby to reach on the error. Ryan’s afternoon was confirmed over as Astros manager Bill Virdon opted for pinch-hitter Joe Pittman. He flied out to Baker in left, while Puhl’s grounder to Garvey and Garner’s fly to Landreaux left Ashby stranded. After the stretch, Dave Smith took the mound for Houston, but his appearance would not last long. Smith struck out Lopes for the first out before Landreaux drilled a pitch into Smith’s left ankle. The comebacker had such force that the ricochet bounced into foul territory and was claimed by a fan reaching into the field. The result of the play was a ground-rule double, and Smith limped off the field. Virdon handed the ball to right-hander Frank LaCorte. After Baker flied to Scott for the second out, Garvey crushed LaCorte’s pitch into deep left field. Cruz appeared to fight the glare in tracking the ball. As he sprinted toward the warning track, he reached out to make the catch. The ball bounced off Cruz’s glove and away from him. Garvey was credited with an RBI triple as Landreaux scored to make it 4-0. Following an intentional walk to Monday, LaCorte struck out Guerrero to end the inning.

The remaining innings passed largely without incident, as Reuss prevented the Astros from mounting a comeback. With two outs in the ninth, Reuss struck out pinch-hitter Dave Roberts. The ball rolled away from Scioscia, though, and toward the backstop while Roberts headed to the dugout. With fans streaming onto the field, Scioscia chased down the ball as Roberts realized the situation and made a beeline for first base. The ball arrived before the runner, sparing Scioscia any blushes. Scioscia recalled the 1941 World Series in noting, “I was thinking shades of Mickey Owen there for a while.”8

In postgame interviews, the anemic Astros offense and Reuss’s incredible performance were the primary topics. Although it was generally accepted that Ryan was not at his best, the Astros ace opined, “If I pitch a shutout, we’re still out there playing.”9 On the Dodgers side, Reuss had needed time to settle into the game, and he and his teammates knew it. Assessing his performance, Reuss observed, “I was struggling early. I was very keyed up. … We wanted to beat the team that beat us last year. After the team got three runs, I settled down and was able to put the ball anywhere I tried to.”10

The Dodgers enjoyed a raucous clubhouse celebration that featured several players pouring beer down manager Tom Lasorda’s pants. They would have to refocus in less than 48 hours. After winning their Division Series against Philadelphia in a decisive fifth game, the Montreal Expos headed to Dodger Stadium with the NL pennant at stake.

Sources

The author also consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org, and viewed the NBC broadcast of the game, accessible at youtube.com.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN198110110.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1981/B10110LAN1981.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kZDWz7ZS1c

Notes

1 Mike DalNegro, “The Gang of Four Shoots to the Top,” Sports Illustrated, October 19, 1981: 44-45.

2 Mike Littwin, “Dodgers Get Even, but Are Astros Ahead?” Los Angeles Times, October 11, 1981: Part III, 11.

3 Littwin, “Dodgers Get Even, but Are Astros Ahead?”

4 Mark Heisler, “This Time Dodgers Get to Keep the title,” Los Angeles Times, October 12, 1981: Part III, 1.

5 George Vecsey, “Dodgers Win, 4-0, Take Western Crown,” New York Times, October 12, 1981: C1.

6 Vecsey.

7 Heisler.

8 Heisler. In 1941 the Yankees trailed the Brooklyn Dodgers, 4-3, with two outs in the top of the ninth of Game Four. Yankees right fielder Tommy Henrich swung and missed for strike three but the ball got past Dodgers catcher Mickey Owen and rolled to the backstop. Instead of the game ending with a Dodgers win that would have evened the Series at two wins apiece, Henrich reached base and the Yankees rallied for a 7-4 win. The Yankees won the next day, 3-1, to win the Series.

9 Mike Littwin, “Astros Pitchers Had No Chance,” Los Angeles Times, October 12, 1981: Part III, 1.

10 Vecsey.