On Baseball: Next! Dodgers and Astros Are Quick to Pull Pitchers

The Astros’ Charlie Morton faced the minimum 15 batters through five innings, and allowed just three hits and a run in six and one-third innings. It was the only matchup in World Series history in which both starters allowed four or fewer base runners.

Yet despite efficient pitch counts — 84 for Wood, 76 for Morton — both starters were gone by the seventh-inning stretch.

“It’s always in your best interest to take the pitcher out a hitter too early rather than a hitter too late, and I’ve always tried to give the reliever a little bit of a leash,” Astros Manager A.J. Hinch said. “I always try to give the starter a ‘job well done’ when he walks off the mound. But the context of the game is always going to shift and change.”

Photo

Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts pulled his starting pitcher Alex Wood in the sixth inning.

Credit
Matt Slocum/Associated Press

Since the Mets’ Matt Harvey faltered in the ninth inning of the final game of 2015, managers have refused to let starters go deep in the World Series. The starters in Game 3 of the Series last fall — the…

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