2022 World Series: Lance McCullers struggles in loss; how will Astros respond?

PHILADELPHIA — The Houston Astros, the front runners that entered their fourth World Series in six years with an undefeated record in this year's postseason, are no longer in the driver's seat. 

After dropping Game 3 in a 7-0 shutout loss to the Phillies, they're starting to look like the underdogs. 

That's a shocking turn of events for Houston — particularly considering they're facing a Phillies team that squeaked into the playoffs with the third-best record in the National League East. While the Phillies continue to surprise, it's the Astros, who owned all the on-paper advantages coming into the series, that are falling flat.

It was difficult to find anything flatter than Lance McCuller Jr.'s pitches in Tuesday's loss. 

The Astros right-hander became the first pitcher in postseason history to allow five home runs in a game. Only one pitcher in the past 83 years had even allowed four home runs in a World Series game, and that was Cardinals right-hander Dick Hughes in the 1967 Fall Classic against the Boston Red Sox.

Part of the reason McCullers coughed up dingers to Bryce Harper, Alec Bohm, Brandon Marsh, Kyle Schwarber and Rhys Hoskins was because he missed his location on a few offspeed pitches and the Phillies were quick to punish his mistakes. 

"I got whooped," McCullers said. "End of story."

But that's not the end. There's more to Houston's Game 3 loss: McCullers never should have been left in the game long enough to give up five homers in the first place. 

Astros manager Dusty Baker appeared asleep at the wheel. 

It took until Schwarber hit a two-run bomb that extended the Phillies' lead to 6-0 for Baker to even get a reliever up in the bullpen. It took until his team was trailing 7-0 for the skipper to make the slow walk to the mound and take the ball from McCullers with one out in the fifth inning. 

Baker's leisurely decision-making could have signaled, perhaps unintentionally, to the Astros: "Hey, we're waving the white flag on this Game 3. Let's try to get ‘em tomorrow."

Baker owned his choices afterward.

"The thought process was the fact that he had had two good innings, two real good innings, and then they hit a blooper, a homer, and then I couldn't get anybody loose," Baker said. "I mean, it was my decision."

And it was a bad one. 

Quick hooks and multiple pitching changes are commonplace in modern baseball, but even more frequent in the World Series. Aggressive managing — like Phillies skipper Rob Thomson's style in Game 1 — is typically rewarded. Meanwhile, Baker's decision to leave McCullers in mirrored his thinking in Game 1, when Baker opted to leave Justin Verlander in long enough for the Phillies to put up five runs on him. 

After that Game 1, Baker said he didn't want to "just go through your whole bullpen that early in the game." And Wednesday, after Game 3, Baker again mentioned wanting to refrain from shuffling through the Astros' entire pitching staff. 

"I understand the reality of the game at that point, I'm trying to eat outs," McCullers said. "I'm trying to save our bullpen."

Save the bullpen for what? The Phillies have a 2-1 lead in the World Series, and they'll enter Wednesday just two wins away from glory.  

It was obvious the Phillies were on top of McCullers' off-speed pitches, and it was evident Houston's stellar relief arms would have given the Astros a better chance at keeping them in the game. 

The Astros sported the best bullpen ERA (2.80) in the major leagues in the regular season. But Baker's cautious decision-making meant the majority of Houston's best arms went unused Tuesday.

There was really no need to "save the bullpen" since, following Monday's rainout, those relief arms hadn't pitched since Saturday night in Houston and, as such, were plenty well-rested.

"I think Dusty understands the kind of competitor I am, and I think he knows I'd want to be out there if there's an opportunity to save our bullpen," McCullers said. "Even if I'm not throwing the best, if the game is getting to that point where we just feel like maybe it's going to be tough to make a comeback, but we're trying to steal outs and save our arms."

In the process of saving their arms, the Astros' deficit kept growing and growing until, finally, their blowout loss was in the books. But hey, that's all right with their dugout leader, Baker seemed to indicate. With the Astros down 2-1, they'll try to get ‘em back tomorrow.  

Deesha Thosar is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets for the New York Daily News. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.