Opinion: Astros' decision to pull Zack Greinke in Game 7 will face scrutiny forever

Bob Nightengale | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption How the Nationals conquered the Astros and won their first ever World Series SportsPulse: The 2019 Washington Nationals should always be remembered for slaying Goliath and winning their first ever title. But as Trysta Krick puts it, maybe they were Goliath all along.

HOUSTON — It was a decision that will be debated and dissected in Houston all winter.

It will keep Astros manager A.J. Hinch awake, and the radio talk-show hosts busy.

No one will know what would have happened if Zack Greinke had been permitted to stay on the mound Wednesday instead of being pulled in the fateful seventh inning of World Series Game 7.

All that’s known is that Hinch’s decision backfired.

The Astros, eight outs from winning it all, are left wondering what if.

The powerful Astros were winning, in full control with Greinke on the mound, only to watch it all blow up.

The Washington Nationals instead are World Series champions, winning 6-2, and ending the Astros’ bid for history.

The Astros were hoping to be remembered as one of the greatest teams of all time. A World Series victory would have made them the first team since the 1942-44 St. Louis Cardinals to win two World Series with three 100-win seasons in a three-year span.

Now, they are left with only the memory of a managerial decision that went wrong.

“I’ll think about it," Hinch said of his winter. “I don’t know what would have happened had I left him in."

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Greinke was pitching a masterpiece, permitting just two baserunners in the first six innings, with the Astros leading 2-0. He was carving up the Nats’ lineup with ease, facing only one batter over the minimum for the first six innings.

The Nats were almost begging for 20-game winner Gerrit Cole, who was warming up in the bullpen in the fifth inning, to come into the game.

Anyone, they said, but Greinke.

“When we saw Cole warming up," Nats hitting coach Kevin Long said, “we were almost like, 'Please bring him in.’ Because that’s how good Zack Greinke was."

Greinke, facing the top of the order for the third time, retired Adam Eaton on a grounder to open the seventh, but Anthony Rendon stepped to the plate and changed everything.

Rendon, who grounded out and struck out in his first two at-bats, homered into the left-field Crawford Boxes on a 1-0 changeup. It was the Nats’ first hit since the second inning. The Astros’ lead was cut to 2-1.

“We didn’t hit the ball hard until Rendon’s home run," Long said. “That’s how dominating he was. Those middle innings, he just rolled through us."

Greinke then pitched carefully to cleanup hitter Juan Soto and walked him on five pitches. Hinch didn’t waste any time.

He bolted out of the dugout, came to the mound and summoned Will Harris, who had been their hottest pitcher during the postseason. He had pitched 10 scoreless innings until Rendon homered off him in the seventh inning of Game 6.

Harris threw a first-pitch curveball that Howie Kendrick swung on and missed. He came back with a 91-mph cutter. Kendrick sent it to the opposite field, bouncing it off the screening of the right-field foul pole for a two-run homer and 3-2 lead.

The shot stunned the crowd of 43,326, and the Astros never recovered.

“Momentum is tough to change," Long said, “and sometimes like that, it really lifts everybody’s spirit in the dugout.

“I could see it, actually, on the field (with the Astros). They started like, 'Oh, no.' It was almost like they knew, 'Here we come.' "

Kendrick’s home run also shredded Hinch’s pitching plan.

He was prepared to have Harris close out the seventh inning, bring in Roberto Osuna for the eighth and have Cole pitch in the ninth.

The Nats instead scored a run off Osuna, and then two more off Joe Smith. Cole never took off his sweatshirt.

“I wasn't going to pitch him unless we were going to win the World Series and have a lead," Hinch said. “He was going to help us win. He was available, and I felt it was a game that he was going to come in had we tied it or taken the lead. He was going to close the game in the ninth after I brought Osuna in, had we kept the lead.”

It never happened, and Greinke’s magnificent 80-pitch performance was wasted.

“I was pitching good," Greinke said. “They got a good lineup, especially the top of the order. It’s tough to get through no matter one time, two times, three times. All of them are tough. Really good hitters up there."

Greinke had allowed one ball out of the infield from the fourth through sixth innings.

“It’s every reliever’s worst nightmare,’’ Harris said. “I think I made a pretty good pitch. (Kendrick) just made a championship play for a championship team."

The Astros had another fabulous season with a league-best 107 victories, but they will go home empty-handed.

“It is really painful," catcher Robinson Chirinos told reporters. “It’s going to take a long time to swallow this kind of loss."

Maybe all the way to spring training, when they’ll have no choice but to see the Nationals upon arrival, considering they share the same complex in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Only this time, it most likely will be without Cole, whose last pitch for the Astros was thrown in the bullpen.

Follow USA TODAY Sports baseball columnist Bob Nightengale on Twitter @BNightengale