Game 5 was postponed by rain for a day. Both starters, Lefty Williams and Cincinnati’s Hod Eller, pitched well at first – neither allowed a runner past first until the top of the sixth. That’s when Eller himself hit a blooper that fell between Felsch and Jackson. Felsch’s throw was off-line, sending Eller all the way to third.
Leadoff hitter Morrie Rath then hit a single over the drawn-in infield, scoring Eller. Heinie Groh walked before Edd Roush’s double—the result of more suspicious defense from Felsch—brought home two more runs, with Roush scoring next.
Eller pitched well enough (he struck out nine batters, including a then-World Series record six in a row) for the four runs to stand up. The Reds had now won 4 games.
In any other year, this would have ended the series. But 1919 was different. Due to the intense post-war interest, the commissioner of baseball had decided to extend this Fall Classic to a best-of-nine affair.
Even with this being a 9-game series, the Reds were only one game away from their first world championship.
Alternate Reds 