The 4-0 first-inning lead held until the bottom of the third, when the Pirates came back with a vengeance. Johnson, who'd yielded two singles in the second, allowed another to pitcher Morrison, a cardinal sin, to start the third on the wrong foot. Eddie Moore promptly doubled to the fence to count Morrison, and Max Carey then singled to bring Moore in with another run. After one out, Carey stole third and strode home easily when Clyde Barnhart dropped a single into short right center. The Senators were able to get two of those runs back immediately. After Rice and Goslin singled, the unbelievable Moon Harris, who hit .440 with three home runs in this World Series, doubled them both in for a 6-3 Washington lead.
By now, the drizzle had evolved into a steady rain and the playing field was an absolute mess. Walter Johnson, whose leg had been taped heavily prior to the game, got through the fourth okay, and his arm felt fine. There were three harmless flies to left following McInnis's lead-off single in the bottom of the fourth. Groundskeepers brought, as was customary, loads of sawdust onto the field to soak up the water when it rained heavily. Walter Johnson kept filling his cap with the stuff, to bring back to the mound. By the end of the game, wrote Robert Burnes years later in Baseball Digest, Walter appeared to be covered in oatmeal.
By the fifth inning, it was pouring, and the Pirates, behind by a serious margin of 6-3, were desperate to close the gap. Max Carey, who'd doubled in the first inning without result, opened the fifth with a double to right center and scored on another double, by Kiki Cuyler. Johnson then mowed the Pirates down, three at a time through the rest of the fifth and sixth. Commissioner Landis, exposed to the elements in his box seat during the whole game, reportedly told Clark Griffith sitting next to him that he was calling the game off at the end of the sixth. Griffith told the commissioner he shouldn't, because he'd made the decision to start the game in the rain in the first place, so he should see it through. In relating the story many years later, Ossie Bluege wondered how many owners, with their team ahead, would have taken such a stand. Griff would have done better to have kept his mouth shut.
Photo intentionally reversed for engraving purposes:
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