Washington DC Baseball

[GeoPoto]

The move to go with Coveleski had backfired. The Senators still maintained a 3-2 lead in games, but Bucky Harris had a pitching rotation in disarray at this point. He had used Zachary in game five, and that had not gone well. Johnson would be held over for the seventh game, if there was one, but his injured leg was a question mark which meant this upcoming game was all the more crucial. Dutch Ruether had not pitched in the Series. Alex Ferguson had, and had done a creditable job winning the third game, giving up six hits and four walks in seven innings in his only appearance. Harris decided to go with him, despite rumors that Ferguson himself didn't think he should be the one to get the assignment.

The trepidation in the Senators' camp was quickly assuaged when, with two out in the top of the first, Goose Goslin launched a Ray Kremer pitch very deep into the rightfield stands. In the second, Joe Judge singled and was forced at second by Ossie Bluege, who then upped the score to 2-0 when Roger Peckinpaugh lined a double over the head of first baseman Stuffy McInnis. McInnis's presence since game five, which reportedly had come at John McGraw's recommendation, would later be recognized by baseball's pundits as a significant move on the part of the Pirates. George Grantham had gone 2-for-14 in the Series. McInnis, a 17-year vet and longtime A's and Red Sox star, had hit .368 following his midseason acquisition from the Boston Braves.

Pittsburgh came back in the third, with Peckinpaugh's fifth error of the Series prolonging a two-run rally. With a man on first, Peckinpaugh grabbed a high bouncer but then missed second when he tried to go for the lead man. Both runs came in on an infield single and another base hit through the box by Pie Traynor that breezed past Alex Ferguson. After that, only one man made it to first base for either side (Ossie Bluege singled in the fourth and got caught leading off first) until the top of the fifth, when Pirate lead-off man Eddie Moore hit a Chinese home run into the temporary seats in left field.

The Pirates led 3-2 and the game was uneventful the rest of the way, except for the fact that Peckinpaugh muffed another chance in the seventh, his sixth error in six games, when he threw low to first base, allowing Moore to once more get on to start an inning. Moore's homer held up as the decisive blow. The Senators had lost two in a row and there was no more margin for error, on the part of Roger Peckinpaugh or anyone else.

We will now enjoy a brief pause -- next expected post: 31 May.

Bucky Harris turns a double play: