To Morrow, to Morrow...
Reliever is key in Dodgers’ Game 4 victory in his 11th stint of the postseason.
Dodgers have called on middle reliever in first four games of Series.
HOUSTON — Brandon Morrow might not have sold his soul for the chance to win a World Series title. If he has sold out his arm, well, bring on a ring.
“At this point, I’ll throw whenever,” Morrow said. “You don’t know when you’re going to get back to this.”
He is Everyday Brandon Morrow. It is a remarkable nickname for a pitcher who has been injured so often that his name has not been as much “Brandon Morrow” as “the oft-injured Brandon Morrow.”
He is the Dodgers’ go-to reliever. They went to him again on Saturday, for four key outs in a 6-2 victory over the Houston Astros. The Dodgers have played 12 postseason games. Morrow has pitched in 11 of them.
“I think the adrenaline will take you as far as you need to go,” Morrow said. “There’s no tired in the postseason.”
There never has been a question about Morrow’s ability. He was drafted with the fifth overall pick of the 2006 draft. The next four pitchers drafted, in order: Andrew Miller, Tim Lincecum, Clayton Kershaw, and Max Scherzer.
There always have been questions about Morrow’s durability. This season is the first in seven years in which he has not been on the disabled list.
He has thrown 56 innings this season, including the postseason. That might not sound all that impressive, but Morrow had not thrown so many innings in five years.
He had long resisted the change from starter to reliever. This year, he embraced it. The Dodgers took a chance on him, but Team Depth had plenty of other options as well.
“He took a chance to be with us,” Dodgers executive Alex Anthopoulos said, “knowing we were pretty deep and we had competition. He bet on himself. “I’m thrilled for him.” He has been so reliable that he was warming up while Alex Wood was in the fifth inning of a no-hitter. Morrow was warming up in the sixth inning, and the Dodgers’ track record of managing their pitchers appeared to indicate that he would face the Astros’ George Springer.
Wood would have been starting his third trip through the lineup, and Springer hits left-handers much better than righthanders. But Wood still had his no-hitter intact when Springer came to bat, with two out in the sixth inning, and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts let Wood continue.
Springer homered, and the Dodgers went to Morrow.
He delivered, again, and this time his excellence helped ensure the Dodgers would not face elimination from the World Series on the morrow.
He faced four batters – the heart of the Houston order – and he retired them all. His earned-run average in the postseason is 1.42.
In this season of the home run, Morrow has faced 44 batters in the postseason. He has given up one home run. He has given up six hits in all; opposing hitters are batting .143 against him.
Closer Kenley Jansen has been the Dodgers’ bullpen rock the past few years, in front of a revolving cast of setup men. None of the Dodgers’ top three setup men last October — Pedro Baez, Joe Blanton and Grant Dayton — are on the current roster.
“Our bullpen has kind of been shaky the last few years,” Jansen said.
Morrow did not even arrive from the minor leagues until May. Now, he has established himself as a bullpen rock of his own.
“Man, he’s taken a lot of load this year,” Jansen said.
Said fellow reliever Ross Stripling: “He’s been just an absolute workhorse for us. It seems like he’s always getting the heart of the order. He’s facing the top four guys every day, it seems like.”
Morrow said he hopes his injury troubles are behind him.
He said he is fatigued, as he said every player is this time of year, but he challenged a reporter who suggested the fatigue might have shown up in lesser stuff.
“What was different?” Morrow said. “I think it’s still 97, 98.”
Morrow is a free agent this fall. The value of his next contract keeps rising with every game he pitches, every day.
“He’s got big things coming over the next couple years, because he’s healthy and he’s proven to be a guy in the back end of a bullpen that somebody can really rely on,” Stripling said. “I’m sure we’re hoping we have him back next year. For now, we’re just happy to have him for the next three games.”