The 1990 National League Championship Series was played between the Cincinnati Reds (91–71) and the Pittsburgh Pirates (95–67). It was the first playoff appearance for both teams since 1979 and the fifth NLCS meeting overall with Cincinnati winning the pennant over Pittsburgh in 1970, 1972, and 1975 while Pittsburgh won over Cincinnati in 1979. The Reds won the series, 4–2, and eventually went on to sweep the defending World Champion Oakland Athletics in the World Series. This was the only NLCS during the 1990s that did not feature the Atlanta Braves and was the first of four straight to feature either the Philadelphia Phillies or the Pittsburgh Pirates. Between Game 2 (in Cincinnati) and Game 3 (in Pittsburgh), the teams took two days off instead of the usual one. That Sunday, October 7, the Pittsburgh Steelers needed to use Three Rivers Stadium for their scheduled game against the San Diego Chargers, so Game 3 (and by extension, the rest of the series) was pushed back a day. Summary Cincinnati Reds vs. Pittsburgh Pirates Game summaries Game 1 Thursday, October 4, 1990 (8:30PM EDT) at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio The Pirates took the first game of the LCS with a 4-3 victory. The game-winning run scored in the 7th when Andy Van Slyke hit a routine inning-ending flyout that was misjudged by Eric Davis in left-field, scoring Gary Redus. Bob Walk was the starting pitcher for Pittsburgh and José Rijo was on the mound for the Reds. The Reds had two doubles in the bottom half of the first inning and scored three runs. These would prove to be the only runs they could bring across the plate for the entire game. For Pittsburgh, Sid Bream would hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning to tie the game. The key Pirate play to seal the game was throwing out pinch-runner Billy Bates, the trailing runner at the back end of a double steal in the ninth inning, to get the second out. Pittsburgh took the series lead, one game to none and claimed home field advantage. Game 2 Friday, October 5, 1990 (3:15PM EDT) at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio Doug Drabek, the National League Cy Young Award winner for 1990 took the mound against Tom Browning for a weekday afternoon Game 2. Cincinnati again scored in the first inning when Barry Larkin walked, stole second, went to