[Nick Soulis]

Series #233



Brew Crew Breakthrough: 1970 Milwaukee Stuns Reds in Six
Morris and Walton Stars Of Midwest Battle



Series #233, Game 1
Cincinnati 1982 Reds at Milwaukee 1970 Brewers
County Stadium
Weather: Rain, 57°, wind blowing in from left at 5 mph
Cincinnati 1982 Reds 6, Milwaukee 1970 Brewers 3
Winning Pitcher: Mario Soto (1-0) — 7.2 IP, 9 H, 3 ER, 4 BB, 8 K
Losing Pitcher: Marty Pattin (0-1) — 8.0 IP, 12 H, 5 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 1 HR
Save: Tom Hume (1) — 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K
Home Runs:Johnny Bench (CIN, solo, 8th), Ron Oester (CIN, solo, 9th)
Player of the Game: Mario Soto — 7.2 IP, 8 K, steady rebound after early trouble
Cincinnati 1982 leads best-of-seven series, 1–0

From the rain-swept grass of County Stadium came a tale of reclamation. The Brewers leapt first, striking with the daring of pioneers, a triple into the corner, a stolen base in the drizzle, and for a moment the new sons of Milwaukee led the way. Yet the game is long, and patience favors the steadfast.Mario Soto, rattled early, gathered himself with a craftsman’s resolve. His changeup, once errant, now dove with the weight of purpose, and one by one the Milwaukee bats were dimmed. In the seventh, the tide rolled red. A pitcher’s double rang like a clarion, Milner and Cedeno lashed drives that brought men flying home, and Cincinnati, so long humbled, stood tall once more.Johnny Bench then rose, the leader of leaders, his bat writing a stanza in fire across the damp October sky. A home run, majestic, sent Cincinnati hearts surging. And as the crowd thinned beneath gray clouds, Ron Oester gave the last word with a drive of his own.Thus the Reds of 1982 — a team history cast as a failure — found dignity reborn. For the Brewers of 1970, their roots remain in the soil, and though this night bore loss, it bore also the promise of growth. Baseball, eternal in its mercy, grants even the forgotten a chance to be remembered.

Series #233, Game 2
Cincinnati 1982 Reds at Milwaukee 1970 Brewers
County Stadium
Weather: Cloudy, 59°, wind blowing out to center at 13 mph
Milwaukee 1970 Brewers 4, Cincinnati 1982 Reds 0
Winning Pitcher: John Morris (1-0) — 8.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K
Losing Pitcher: Bruce Berenyi (0-1) — 6.1 IP, 9 H, 4 ER, 5 BB, 2 K
Save: Ken Sanders (1) — 0.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R
Home Runs: None
Player of the Game: John Morris — 8.2 IP of two-hit shutout brilliance
Series Standing: Series tied 1–1

From the gray skies above County Stadium came a tale of persistence and redemption. John Morris, no household name in baseball’s grand litany, took the ball with little fanfare and left the field with immortality. His left arm, steady as a metronome, silenced a Cincinnati club that had thundered only a day before.
The Brewers, cast as footnotes in history, found their chorus tonight. Kennedy’s double, Kubiak’s timely stroke, Walton’s drive — each note rang clear in a song of defiance. Even the pitcher himself swung a bat with purpose, chasing home a run to the roars of a restless crowd eager to believe.
For the Reds, it was a day of futility. Cedeno and Bench swung hard, but wood met little fortune. Errors were few, but miscues of patience — passed balls, squandered counts — told their tale. The machine sputtered, leaving Milwaukee to revel in its triumph. And so, as the rains gave way to the chant of thirty-one thousand faithful, the Brewers stood tall. In this theater of memory, a journeyman’s masterpiece restored balance, and the series now journeys to the banks of the Ohio, tied and tinged with the promise of further drama.

Game 3
At Riverfront Stadium
Weather: Clear skies, 59°, wind out to center at 9 mph
Milwaukee 1970 Brewers 2
Cincinnati 1982 Reds 1 (12 innings)
WP: B. Meyer (1-0)
LP: B. Lesley (0-1)
SV: B. Locker (1)
HR: None
POG: Gene Brabender (7.1 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 100 P)
Milwaukee 1970 leads 2–1

The twilight over Riverfront Stadium saw a tale of two teams straining every nerve in the cords of October tension. Cincinnati, once proud masters of the Big Red Machine, found themselves grinding at the gears, their bats bound in silence by Brabender’s rugged right arm and the unyielding will of Milwaukee’s bullpen.
For twelve innings the game stood locked, as if carved in stone—one run apiece, one dream held in equal grasp. Pastore pitched with a lion’s heart, his every delivery a defiance of fate, while Brabender met him pitch for pitch, the duel rising like cathedral bells over the Ohio dusk.
And then came Kubiak—no headline star, no man expected to write the story. Yet in the twelfth he swung, and destiny swung with him, a simple single through the infield that carried with it the roar of a thousand echoes. A journeyman became a hero, and the Brewers claimed their moment.
Cincinnati fought until the final out, but the gods of fortune had crossed their arms. For tonight, Milwaukee wore the laurel, their spirit as enduring as the crowd’s chant, their resolve etched into the annals of the Field of Dreams.The series, now bent toward the Brewers, stands poised on a knife’s edge. Tomorrow brings another battle, another chance for redemption or triumph, another page in this golden ledger of the game eternal.

Game 4 — Series #233
At Riverfront Stadium
Weather: Clear skies, 64°, wind in from center at 8 mph
1982 Cincinnati Reds 5
1970 Milwaukee Brewers 0
WP: Mario Soto (2-0) — 9.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 11 K, 124 P
LP: Lew Krausse (0-1) — 7.0 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 3 K
HR: Johnny Bench (CIN, solo, 1st inning)
POG: Mario Soto — Complete game shutout, 3 H, 11 K
Series: Tied 2–2

In the golden light of a Cincinnati afternoon, there strode a figure upon the mound who turned doubt into dominion. Mario Soto, called forth in place of a legend, fashioned his own masterpiece—a three-hit symphony of fire and deception that carved the Brewers’ bats into silence. Eleven men were struck down, not by bluster, but by the quiet authority of a craftsman at the height of his power.
The Reds, awakened from their slumber, struck with immediacy. Bench, the iron backbone of their order, drove home the first spark. Krenchicki, oft a name whispered rather than shouted, lashed a double that roared like thunder over the banks of the Ohio. In those early moments, Riverfront Stadium was transformed into a cauldron, its people breathing as one with their heroes.Lew Krausse, gallant though he labored, found himself caught in the unforgiving gears of a game that spares no quarter to the outmatched. His pitches found gloves, his resolve found resistance, and by the time the dust had settled, the tally upon the board spelled doom for his cause.
So it is now—two victories for the Brewers, two for the Reds, and destiny balanced upon the edge of the blade. Should Soto’s brilliance be the turning of the tide, or but a fleeting echo in this battle of eras, only the morrow shall reveal. For in October’s theater, every contest is written not in ink, but in flame.

Game 5
At Riverfront Stadium
Weather: Clear skies, 51° (wind in from LF at 10 mph)
1970 Milwaukee Brewers 5
1982 Cincinnati Reds 4
WP: M. Pattin (1-1)
LP: T. Hume (0-1)
SV: K. Sanders (1)
HR: J. Bench (2)
POG: Marty Pattin – 8.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R (2 ER), 1 BB, 3 K, 139 P
Milwaukee 1970 leads series 3-2

From the quiet banks of the Ohio, where Riverfront rose proud and gleaming, came a contest that turned from routine into legend. The Reds, with their banners waving and their heroes arrayed, seemed ready to retake command. But into this theatre strode an unlikely champion, Marty Pattin, who with stubborn arm and unyielding will, held the hosts at bay.It was not the great Bench, nor the dashing Concepcion, who wrote the headline, but rather Danny Walton, a journeyman’s name destined now to linger. His stroke in the eighth — a line of thunder splitting the autumn sky — carried three Brewers home, and with them, the weight of a city’s hope. One swing, and the Brewers believed themselves giants.The Reds, proud and fierce, fought still. Bench found the seats, Concepcion carved the alleys, yet fate, that most capricious of umpires, called them wanting. They stranded men like ships left marooned upon a hostile shore.Now the series tilts toward Milwaukee, that modest ballclub draped in new-found glory. Tomorrow they return to County Stadium, not as underdogs but as rulers of their own destiny. One victory more, and their tale becomes immortal.

At County Stadium
Weather: Partly cloudy, 50° (wind in from LF at 11 mph)
1970 Milwaukee Brewers 7
1982 Cincinnati Reds 1
WP: J. Morris (2-0)
LP: F. Pastore (0-1)
SV: K. Sanders (1)
HR: D. Walton 2 (6th solo; 8th solo), P. Roof (8th, 2-run)
POG: John Morris — 8.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R (0 ER), 1 BB, 6 K, 120 P

Beneath the autumn sky of Wisconsin, the crowd at County Stadium bore witness to a tale only baseball can write: the modest Brewers of 1970 rising as champions against a foe steeped in richer cloth. Theirs was no dynasty, no dynasty-in-waiting, but a gathering of journeymen and hopefuls who, on this day, found themselves cast as giants.John Morris, the quiet southpaw, worked with the calm resolve of a craftsman. He gave no quarter, his arm steady as the ticking of a clock. Each pitch spun a thread of fate, weaving a tapestry that bound the mighty Reds to a single run. He was not sculpted from marble, but from the common clay of perseverance—and yet, in this hour, he gleamed like a colossus.
The thunder belonged to Danny Walton, whose bat twice cleaved the air and sent orbs hurtling into the night like fiery messengers. Not to be outdone, Phil Roof found his voice with a late blast, as if to sound the final bell of triumph. Each swing was not merely a stroke of wood on leather, but a declaration that the Brewers’ story would be writ in bold ink.The Reds, proud and noble, stood baffled by their own futility. Their hits scattered like pebbles in a stream, never gathering into a torrent. Concepcion and Cedeno strove, and Bench lifted a solitary cry, yet the tide never turned. Their legacy endures, but here, under the lights of Milwaukee, it dimmed.
And so it is that baseball reminds us: glory is not the birthright of the favored. It may be seized by those who believe, those who labor, those who dare. The 1970 Brewers, crowned in triumph, leave us a verse that will echo down the years: that hope, though humble, can climb the highest hill and wear the crown of champions.

1970 Milwaukee Brewers Win Series 4 Games To 2

Series MVP:

(.333, 2 HR, 7 EBI, 3 R, 1 2B, .958 OPS, 2 HR in clincher)