Ian Anderson was all smiles in the dugout Friday as Atlanta Braves manager Brian Snitker congratulated him and told him he was being taken out after five innings of World Series Game 3.
The right-hander resisted the notion to point out the zero under hits on the scoreboard for the visiting Houston Astros.
Anderson’s night ended after 76 pitches despite the no-hit bid, and the Braves’ bullpen followed with four innings of two-hit ball as Atlanta recorded a 2-0 victory to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.
“You obviously want to stay out there, but you have all the faith in ‘Snit’ to make the right move,” Anderson said.
The Braves didn’t allow a hit through seven innings on a rainy night in which five Atlanta pitchers eventually combined for the shutout. Austin Riley’s run-scoring double in the third inning and Travis d’Arnaud’s homer in the eighth were all the offense Atlanta needed.
Game 4 is Saturday night in Atlanta.
As Snitker broke the news to Anderson, the 23-year-old said, “Are you sure? Are you sure?”
Snitker didn’t flinch, telling Anderson, “I am going with my gut right here. My eyes and my gut.”
Snitker said postgame, “It would have been really easy to let him go out. It could have backfired, I guess, but I thought at that point in time and in a game of this magnitude that he had done the job.”
The Braves’ attempt to throw the second no-hitter in World Series history ended in the eighth when Houston pinch hitter Aldemys Diaz dropped a leadoff single into left field off left-hander Tyler Matzek.
Braves left fielder Eddie Rosario seemed to have trouble tracking the ball, which landed just in front of him.
“I started charging it hard right away, and I noticed Dansby (Swanson, the shortstop,) was charging hard as well, and he had his back to the ball,” Rosario said. “Obviously, we’re both trying to make a play on the ball. When I knew I had a bead on it, I was trying to say, ‘I got it, I got it.’
“Obviously, I knew Dansby couldn’t hear me, so at the last minute, knowing we couldn’t communicate, I wanted to make sure I avoided any collision between the two of us. So I just kind of eased up on it right there.”
Pinch runner Jose Siri, taking over for Diaz, stole second with two outs and moved to third on a throwing error by catcher d’Arnaud before Matzek retired Michael Brantley on an infield popup.
Braves left-hander Will Smith allowed a leadoff single to Alex Bregman in the ninth before retiring the next three hitters to complete the shutout. Smith earned his first save of the World Series and fifth of the 2021 postseason as Atlanta improved to 6-0 at home in the playoffs.
Anderson (1-0) struck out four and walked three before exiting. Left-hander A.J. Minter and right-hander Luke Jackson followed with one hit-free inning apiece as Houston’s offense was kept in check.
“We didn’t center too many balls tonight,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said. “We threatened a couple of times and didn’t get the two-out RBI hits that we had gotten before, and that was kind of an uneventful night for us.”
Astros right-hander Luis Garcia (0-1) allowed one run and three hits over 3 2/3 innings. He struck out six and walked four.
The Braves scored in the third when Rosario walked and Freddie Freeman singled to left-center to start the inning. One out later, Riley ripped a run-scoring double inside the third base line to score Rosario.
“I was trying to stay in the middle as much as I can as his off-speed stuff is tough to see,” Riley said of Garcia. “I was fortunate to get one.”
Houston threatened with two outs in the fourth when Anderson walked Yordan Alvarez and hit Carlos Correa with a pitch. However, the Astros came up empty when Kyle Tucker bounced back to Anderson.
Anderson retired the side in the fifth before getting the hook.
Atlanta got an insurance run with two outs in the eighth when d’Arnaud sent a sinker from Houston right-hander Kendall Graveman over the fence in center. The blast traveled 437 feet.
The lone no-hitter in World Series history occurred when Don Larsen of the New York Yankees fired a perfect game against the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1956.
The only other no-hitter in postseason play was thrown by Philadelphia Phillies’ Roy Halladay against the Cincinnati Reds in the 2010 National League Division Series.
Bregman was willing to tip his cap to the Braves’ pitching instead of fretting about his team’s hitting woes.
“We didn’t swing the bats for one game,” Bregman said. “I think we can flush it and move on to the next day and have a short memory. I give all the credit to them tonight, they pitched their tails off.”
–Field Level Media
