page_title: 1975 World Series
section_title: Game 3
hierarchical_section_title: 1975 World Series / Matchups / Game 3
caption_attribution_description: Rickey Henderson steals third base for the New York Yankees under the tag of Seattle Mariners Third baseman Jim Presley in the first game of a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium on August 19, 1988.
context_page_description: The 1975 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's 1975 season. The 72nd edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League champion Boston Red Sox and the National League champion Cincinnati Reds. The Reds won the series, four games to three. In 2003, ESPN ranked it the second-greatest World Series ever played.
  The Reds, at the height of their Big Red Machine dynasty, recorded a franchise-high 108 victories in 1975 and won the NL West division by 20 games over the Los Angeles Dodgers, then defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates, three games to none, in the NL Championship Series. The Red Sox won the AL East division by ​4 ¹⁄₂ games over the Baltimore Orioles, then defeated the three-time defending World Series champion Oakland Athletics, three games to none, in the AL Championship Series. The sixth game of the World Series was a 12-inning classic at Boston's Fenway Park, which culminated with a walk-off home run by Carlton Fisk to extend the series to seven games. The Reds won the seventh and deciding game of the series on a ninth-inning single by Joe Morgan.
context_section_description: At home, the Reds prevailed in another squeaker in a game that featured the first major controversy of the series that involved the umpires. The teams had battled to a tense 5-5 tie through nine innings. After the Red Sox failed to score in the tenth, the Reds sent the bottom of the order to lead off the bottom of the tenth. Cesar Geronimo led off with a single off Jim Willoughby. Reds manager Sparky Anderson then sent pinch-hitter Ed Armbrister up to sacrifice in place of reliever Rawly Eastwick. Armbrister's bunt bounced high near the plate toward the first-base line. Boston catcher Carlton Fisk was quick to pounce on the ball in front of the plate as Armbrister was slow to get out of the box. He hesitated before running and appeared to collide with (or at least impede) Fisk as he was retrieving the ball. Fisk's hurried throw to second base to force out Geronimo sailed over shortstop Rick Burleson into center field as Geronimo went to third base and Armbrister to second. Fisk and Boston manager Darrell Johnson argued that Armbrister should have been ruled out for interference, but home plate umpire Larry Barnett ruled otherwise. The play stood and the Reds had the potential winning run on third with no outs. Willoughby then intentionally walked Pete Rose to load the bases and set up a force play at any base. Johnson then brought in left-hander Roger Moret, to face Ken Griffey, but Anderson countered with right-handed hitting Merv Rettenmund. Rettenmund struck out for out No. 1, but Joe Morgan knocked in Geronimo with the game-winner by hitting a deep fly to center over a drawn in outfield.
  For nine innings, the game was a homer-fest as each team put three over the wall. Fisk put the Sox on the board in the second with a homer off Reds starter Gary Nolan. The Reds countered by taking a 2–1 lead in the fourth when Tony Pérez walked and Johnny Bench hit a two-run shot off Sox starter Rick Wise. The Reds then chased Wise in the fifth when Dave Concepción and César Gerónimo hit back-to-back home runs. Pete Rose followed with a one-out triple and scored on Joe Morgan's sacrifice fly to give the Reds a 5–1 lead. The Sox scratched back in the sixth when Reds reliever Pat Darcy issued consecutive walks to Carl Yastrzemski and Fisk, wild-pitched Yastrzemski to third, and then gave up a sacrifice fly to Fred Lynn. In the seventh, Bernie Carbo closed the gap to 5–3 with a pinch-hit homer off Clay Carroll.
  In the top of the ninth, with Reds closer Eastwick on the mound, Rico Petrocelli singled and Evans hit the game-tying home run, sending the game into extra innings.
caption: Umpire Larry Barnett (far right)
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