HOUSTON _ They had a four-run lead. They had their best pitcher on the mound. They were headed home on the precipice of a championship.
Then, two days before what all of Los Angeles thought could be a celebratory Halloween clinching, the Los Angeles Dodgers stumbled into a nightmare Sunday.
Baseballs disappearing. Pitchers dissolving. Thousands screaming. Faces gone pale. Blue turned to black.
In a bright and pleasant World Series Game 5 that suddenly became their house of horrors, the Dodgers blew a four-run lead, then blew a three-run lead, then blew a one-run lead, then overcame a three-run deficit in the ninth, then finally fell in a 13-12 loss to the Houston Astros in 10 innings.
The game lasted five hours 17 minutes. The Dodgers angst over lost opportunities will endure much longer.
The madness started when the Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw fell apart in the fourth inning and couldn't hold a four-run lead for the first time in 20 occasions this season. It ended when Alex Bregman's RBI single against Kenley Jansen with two out in the 10th inning brought the Astros flooding out of their dugout in joyous hugs amid deafening cheers.
Those Astros will now dance to Los Angeles with a three games to two lead and a chance to clinch the best-of-seven championship Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium with one of the best postseason pitchers in recent hisory on the mound in Justin Verlander. The Dodgers will counter with Rich Hill, who will carry not just some postseason inconsistency but also the baggage of the second game the Dodgers have blown in this series.
The Dodgers led, 4-0, in the fourth inning, and the game felt over, considering they were 19-0 this year when Kershaw was given four or more runs.
Think again. The Astros tied it up with four runs in the fourth against Kershaw on a walk, two hits, and a three-run homer by Yuli Gurriel off the left-field Lexus sign. Yes, that's the same Gurriel whose earlier racist gesture in this series earned him a five-game suspension ... for next season.
The Dodgers bounced back moments later, taking a three-run lead in the fifth on a couple of walks and a home run into the right-field seats by Cody Bellinger, who rounded first base with his right hand raised as if he were a tour guide leading the Dodgers to victory.
Think again. With two out in the bottom of the fifth, Kershaw tired quickly and walked consecutive hitters, leading manager Dave Roberts to remove his ace and bring in converted reliever Kenta Maeda, who had not allowed a run in nine postseason innings. Moments after that, 5-foot-5 Jose Altuve hit a mammoth fly over the left-center field fence for a three-run home to tie the game.
Should Roberts have pulled Kershaw? Absolutely. He had thrown 94 pitches, his third-highest total since returning from a back injury in September. He was clearly gassed. Kershaw, who had seemingly conquered past October demons by leading the Dodgers to wins in each of his four starts this postseason _ including Game One of this World Series _ is back in purgatory after allowing six runs in less than five innings.
But then the Dodgers regained the lead again in the seventh when Bellinger hit a line drive toward center fielder George Springer.
Instead of letting it drop in front of him for a single, Springer attemped a diving catch, missed it, and the ball rolled to the wall while Kiki Hernandez scored from first and Bellinger ended up on third base with an RBI triple.
But, alas, the lead didn't last long. In the bottom of the seventh, the Astros roared back against exhausted reliever Brandon Morrow, working his third straight game.
He was inexplicably left on the mound to take a seventh-inning beating, allowing four runs on a double, a single and two home runs.
Morrow, who has pitched in 12 of the Dodgers 13 postseason games, gave up a homer on the first pitch to Springer.
He gave up a single on his next pitch to Bregman. Two pitches later he gave up a double to Altuve.
One pitch after that, he allowed a home run into the left-field stands by Carlos Correa, who was so stunned by the turn of events that he stopped before reaching first and turned to lead cheers from his dugout.
Where was Roberts? Where was reliever Ross Stripling, who was available in the bullpen?
Dodger fans were probably puzzled by the decision to stick with Morrow, but soon enough they were celebrating again.
The Dodgers came back to score in the eighth on Corey Seager's double, the Astros matched that in their eighth inning with a Brian McCann home run, but the Dodgers weren't done yet.
The Dodgers tied it in the ninth with a walk by Bellinger, followed one out later by Yasiel Puig's ninth-inning, two-run homer. Then, after Austin Barnes' one-out double, Joc Pederson grounded out to move him to third and Chris Taylor singled to center to tie the game and bring the Dodgers out of the dugout as if they had already won.
They had not. They did not. They would not. And now they face a battle for their lives, needing to sweep the Astros in two games at Dodger Stadium beginning Tuesday.
In a World Series that has clearly lost its mind, the Dodgers need to find themselves by Tuesday night. Halloween has rarely felt so ominous.
