Virdon had replaced Blass with left-hander Ramon Hernandez to get the last couple of outs in the eighth inning, but in the ninth he wanted his steady bullpen man, right-hander Dave Giusti, who had saved 22 games and notched seven victories for the Pirates during the season.

Hernandez that year had appeared in 50 games, won 5, lost none, saved 14, and owned a miniscule ERA of 1.67. He was angry he wasn't pitching the ninth inning even though the first three Reds coming to the plate were right-handed hitters. Virdon was going with the percentages.

The first batter to face Giusti was Johnny Bench, who had led the National League with 40 home runs and 125 RBI. Giusti had the upper hand on Bench with one ball and two strikes when Bench sent his next pitch deep to the right-field seats for a home run that tied the score at 3-3.

"I felt ready against the Reds," said Giusti. "I had already done well against them in the third game when we won and I got the save. I had had some luck with Bench over the years until that time. I thought I had him set up with a fastball inside that he hit to the left, foul. Then I went with my best pitch, a palm ball. That was my out pitch. He waited on it so well, which was unusual for him. He was pretty much of a pull hitter, but he hit my best pitch to right center. I thought he'd swing and miss or try to pull it, but it didn't sink enough."

"When we took the field at the bottom of the ninth," said Al Oliver, "I was out there in the center field counting my World Series share. I was confident we were going to win.

"When Bench hit that ball, I was running over to back up Roberto if the ball hit the wall, but as soon as I was half over there I knew it was gone. Bench was not known to hit to right field. He only hit two of them there all year, both against us."

As Bench stood at the plate facing Giusti, he looked over his shoulder. "I saw my mother leaning over the box-seat railing, shouting something," he said. "I couldn't hear what she was yelling, but I knew what she was saying, 'Hit one, John.'

"I told Pete [Rose] earlier in the game, I hoped there would be somebody on base in the ninth inning because I was going to hit one. It was a palm ball," he said, "and I was just lucky he got it up where I could hit it. For just a split second, when I had two strikes, I thought about going into that new defensive stance I used with two strikes. I usually spread my legs out more, brought my hands in, and shortened up my stroke. But, then I said, 'The hell with it. I'm going for the home run.' I just had that feeling.

"Before the game I looked at movies of myself and I saw the reason I wasn't hitting in the series was because I was crouching too much. That gave me confidence, plus the fact there were no shadows. It was still partly cloudy and I was seeing the ball. I don't care who's pitching, if there are no shadows I can hit the ball."

"I got so frustrated after Bench hit that homer," said Giusti, "I gave up hits to the next two batters [Tony Perez and Denis Menke], and that's when Virdon took me out and brought in Moose."

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