Reds legend Johnny Bench shares a heartfelt message following the death of Luis Tiant

Boston Red Sox legend Luis Tiant, one of MLB's best and most recognizable pitchers, died Tuesday, the league announced.

Another giant of the game, MLB Hall of Famer and longtime Cincinnati Reds catcher Johnny Bench, took to X (formerly Twitter) later on Tuesday to pay his respects to Tiant with a heartfelt message.

“We may have won the World Series in 1975, but Luis Tiant shut us out in Game 1 and picked up another complete game victory in Game 4,” Bench wrote. “He meant so much to the Red Sox organization that baseball has certainly lost another icon. My condolences go out to his family and Boston fans.”

Bench, a two-time MVP and World Series champion, faced the then 34-year-old Tiant twice in the exciting 1975 World Series, which lasted a full seven games. And twice the Red Sox ace stunned Cincinnati's Great Eight, a lineup that featured three Hall of Famers in Bench, Joe. Morgan and Tony Perez and another in the late Pete Rose, who would certainly have been elected but for his lifetime ban from baseball for gambling.

Tiant started three games in the 1975 World Series, winning a pair while allowing 10 earned runs in 25 innings pitched. And even though Bench was the series winner, he didn't want people to forget how good “El Tiante” was on the game's biggest stage.