Johnson then brought in Roger Moret, and elected to load the bases with an intentionally walk to Pete Rose and set up a force play situation. And that move failed. Moret struck out pinch hitter Merv Rettenmund, but Joe Morgan drove in Gerónimo with the winning run by hitting a deep sacrifice fly to center field, while Willoughby was tagged with the loss. In his next Series appearances, Willoughby hurled two scoreless innings in Game 5 and was called on to calm things down in decisive Game 7. The score was tied, 3–3, in the top of the seventh inning, and Johnny Bench stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs. Willoughby took care of the situation and easily retired Bench on a foul pop to catcher Fisk. He then pitched a clean 1-2-3 eighth inning. In the bottom of the eight, though, with two outs, none on base, and the score still tied, manager Johnson pulled Willoughby in favor of pinch-hitter Cecil Cooper. Cooper was retired on a pop out to third baseman Rose in foul territory. Afterwards, rookie left-handed Jim Burton came on to pitch the top half of the ninth for the Red Sox. Burton was selected by Johnson because the Reds were expected to send up three left-handed hitters in a row. But the strategy did not work, because Burton gave up two walks sandwiched around two outs and surrendered a single to Morgan, allowing Ken Griffey to score the go-ahead and eventual winning run of the Series. Overall, Willoughby allowed an unearned run, three singles and one walk, while striking out three in innings. In 1976, Willoughby posted an unfortunate record of 3-12 in 54 relief appearances, but he pitched well enough to post a 2.86 ERA in 99 innings while saving 10 games. But his role with the 1977 Red Sox team was reduced, as he spent time on the disabled list for the first time in his major league career. On May 22, Willoughby broke his right ankle when he slipped on the grass during a pregame warm up. He returned in the month of August, but was ineffective for the rest of the season, ending with a 6-2 record and two saves in 31 games. Moreover, he recorded an ERA of 4.94, his highest ever in a regular season. Chicago White Sox The Red Sox sold Willoughby to the