Dodgers' bullpen finally cracks

If there had been one constant in the 2017 postseason, it was the impervious nature of the Los Angeles Dodgers' bullpen, especially when it came to Brandon Morrow and Kenley Jansen.

That all changed in Game 2 of the World Series.

Morrow, who entered with no outs in the seventh inning, returned to kick off the eighth only to allow a ground-rule double to Alex Bregman after Yasiel Puig failed to track down the fly ball. With a runner on and a two-run lead, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts turned to Jansen for the six-out save.

Jansen escaped the inning with only one run crossing the plate, but allowed a game-tying homer to Marwin Gonzalez to kick off the ninth. Extra innings imitated a yo-yo, but ultimately ended because the Houston Astros beat up the Dodgers' relievers.

"I'll take Kenley every day of the week with a one-run lead," Roberts told MLB.com's Richard Justice after the game. "It just doesn't always go as planned."

Except it had before Wednesday. Morrow and Jansen had allowed only one run between them over 18 1/3 postseason innings entering Game 2. And Kenta Maeda was spotless in relief of Rich Hill, who was pulled after only four innings.

Despite Maeda's success, burning relievers early played directly into the Astros' hands.

"They used so many pitchers early," Astros starter Justin Verlander told Bleacher Report's Scott Miller. "Late in the game, we were able to take advantage of that situation."

Neither Josh Fields or Brandon McCarthy could keep the ball in the park, either. It was only Fields' second appearance of the postseason, and he didn't record an out. Meanwhile, McCarthy wasn't even on the playoff roster before this series.

For the Astros, they did the exact thing they needed to by conquering the mighty Dodgers relief corps to finally win another game on the road.

It also proved that Jansen and Morrow are, in fact, human as the series shifts to Houston for the next three, where the Astros have yet to lose this postseason.