Terry Collins blamed himself for the decision to send Matt Harvey to the mound for the ninth inning on Sunday night in Game 5 of the World Series.

Collins had told Harvey that his night was over after eight scoreless innings, but reversed his decision after the right-hander lobbed to remain in the game with the New York Mets leading the Kansas City Royals 2-0.

"He just came over and said, 'I want this game. I want it bad. You've got to leave me in,' " Collins said. "I said, 'Matt, you've got us exactly where we wanted to get.' He said, 'I want this game in the worst way.'

"So, obviously, I let my heart get in the way of my gut. I love my players. And I trust them. And so I said, 'Go get 'em out.'"

Harvey allowed a leadoff walk to Lorenzo Cain, a stolen base and an RBI double to Eric Hosmer. Jeurys Familia then entered the game and allowed the tying run to score for his Major League-record third blown save of the World Series.

"If you're going to let him just face one guy, you shouldn't have sent him out there," Collins said about the decision not to lift Harvey after the leadoff walk. "When the double [was] hit, that's when I said, 'I've got to see if we can get out of this with only one run.' And it didn't work. It was my fault."

The Royals ended a 30-year World Series championship drought with a 7-2 win in 12 innings at Citi Field.