page_title: 1981 National League Division Series
section_title: Game 4
hierarchical_section_title: 1981 National League Division Series / Los Angeles vs. Houston / Game 4
caption_attribution_description: English: Former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Fernando Valenzuela.
context_page_description: The 1981 National League Division Series, the opening round of the 1981 National League playoffs which began on Tuesday, October 6, and ended on Sunday, October 11. The Division Series was created on August 6 in response to the 1981 Major League Baseball strike, which caused the cancellation of roughly one-third of the regular season between June 12 and August 9; by the time play was resumed, it was decided that the best approach was to have the first-half leaders automatically qualify for postseason play, and allow all the teams to begin the second half with a clean slate. The series were best-of-five games.
  The Montreal Expos defeated the Philadelphia Phillies while the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Houston Astros to advance to the National League Championship Series.
context_section_description: Fernando Valenzuela took the hill for the Dodgers once again, this time against Vern Ruhle. Both pitchers pitched complete games for their respective teams. Eventual World Series co-MVP Pedro Guerrero got the Dodgers on the board first with a homer in the bottom of the fifth. Bill Russell drove in the eventual winning run in the bottom of the seventh with an RBI single. A two-out RBI single in the ninth produced the only Astros run as the Dodgers won Game 4, 2–1.
caption: Game 4 winning pitcher Fernando Valenzuela
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