After using Brandon Morrow for 1.1 innings in Game 4 of the World Series, Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he didn’t expect the right-hander to be available Sunday night. But after Clayton Kershaw was forced to an early exit, Morrow was the third reliever to enter.
The appearance was Morrow’s first time in his career pitching on three consecutive days. The converted reliever was also making a fifth appearance in the past six days, and his 12th in the Dodgers’ 13 postseason games.
“He called down and said that he felt good. He was throwing today, he felt good,” Roberts explained of inserting Morrow into the game. “And he called the middle of the game, and he said, hey, if we take the lead, I want the ball, my body feels good.
“So in the seventh inning, you can’t turn him down. He felt good, he wanted to be in the game, and it’s a credit to him to be used like he has been and want the baseball.”
Morrow’s appearance was an unmitigated disaster, and he later called the lobbying to pitch a selfish act, according to Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
"It was selfish on my part to push to tell them I'm ready and wanted to get in there. They had a plan and I made them deviate from it."
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) October 30, 2017
Cody Bellinger’s RBI triple in the top of the seventh inning gave the Dodgers an 8-7 lead. It was erased on Morrow’s first pitch to George Springer, who jumped on a fastball for a leadoff home run in the bottom of the seventh.
Alex Bregman singled on the first pitch he saw, and Jose Altuve drove an 0-1 slider to center field for a go-ahead double. Carlos Correa’s two-run home run landed the knockout punch. Morrow was removed after failing to record an out, and throwing six pitches that led to four runs.
The Dodgers battled back from the deficit Morrow put them in, but the Astros took Game 5 on Bregman’s walk-off single against Kenley Jansen in the 10th inning.
