HOUSTON -- After Game 3, the Dodgers bullpen had been heavily used and while down two games to one in the series, manager Dave Roberts needed to see starting pitcher Alex Wood step up and give him some length. 

Wood met the challenge despite having only pitched once in the last month. 

"Woody set the tone of us and was just outstanding," Roberts said. 

Sure, some will focus on the last pitch Wood threw. He coughed up a prodigious home run to George Springer and then departed, on the hook for the loss (pitcher wins and losses being misleading stats at times aside). Springer hit a home run because he's an awesome baseball player with power who has been locked in since the start of Game 2, not because Wood -- or manager Dave Roberts leaving him in to face Springer a third time -- did anything wrong. 

What Wood actually did was pitch his ass off through 5 2/3 innings before even allowing a hit. 

"It's hard to put into words really right now," Wood said afterward. "We needed a win and I was glad to keep us in it long enough to where our bats came alive.  

Wood was also fully aware of the bullpen being a bit taxed heading in. 

"I think everybody was talking yesterday about our pen being burned or tired or whatever it might be," he mentioned as part of an answer to a question. With that on his mind, it's a testament to his mentality entering the game that he came through.

Thanks in part, surely, to having only pitched once in the last month, Wood didn't start the game with this best command. He hit Springer with a pitch on the foot, but home plate umpire Laz Diaz didn't see and replay apparently wasn't conclusive enough to overturn. Wood then fell behind 3-1 to Alex Bregman. In the second inning, he fell behind 3-0 to Carlos Correa and eventually walked him. He fell behind 2-0 to Josh Reddick. He also walked Marwin Gonzalez in the third. 

Along the way though, Wood pitched with guts and kept after it. He erased the Correa walk by inducing a grounder that ended up a double play. He limited hard contact. After the third inning, he really settled in, too. 

Roberts called Wood's competitiveness (or "compete," as Roberts put it) in Game 4 "off the charts." 

Before the Springer home run, Wood had retired 10 straight Astros hitters. He had a no-no going through 5 2/3 innings. He was never in trouble at all, not allowing more than one baserunner in any inning nor ever allowing a runner to reach second base. 

As far as I'm concerned, that's dominance. It was a bit of a reminder of what Wood can do. He wasn't great in the second half of the season, but after a July 15 win, he had a 1.56 ERA. We've seen him dominate. In his last start of 2017, he did so again for a relatively brief stretch. 

Astros manager A.J. Hinch was impressed, saying it was a "well-pitched game" from Wood. 

"He pitches very well down in the zone," Hinch said. "He threw a couple of high fastballs, but for the most part he really settles bottom of the zone, with pitches that move. He's got a little breaking ball, a little change-up, keeps you honest with his fastball."

After the Springer home run, Roberts pulled Wood. Some might have disagreed with the decision, but Roberts at this point rarely lets his non-Kershaw starters see the opposing lineup a third time. This was the third time through and it was a one-run game. 

"The focus and just on this stage to leave it all out there, I just felt like where they're at in the order and how much he'd be used or pushed in the last month, right there, that's all he had," said Roberts. "For us, that was plenty and for us as an offense, it was time to pick him up." 

It ended up working, so no qualms here with the move. The offense indeed picked Wood up, too. 

In the end though, Wood won't get the "win" and it's possible some will lose focus on what a great job he did with the Dodgers possibly staring down a 3-1 World Series deficit and a tired bullpen. 

Wood stepped up and came through for his team. Now the series is all evened up at two with Clayton Kershaw getting the ball in Game 5, and the bullpen -- aside from Brandon Morrow, who has pitched four times in the last five days -- is a bit more rested. 

The series has taken another turn. It won't be the last. This one came on the back of Wood's 5 2/3 innings, even if his outing ended on a sour note.