Anderson sharp as Braves blank Miami, lead 2-0
HOUSTON — Rookie Ian Anderson pitched like a poised veteran, right fielder Nick Markakis made a nifty defensive play late and the Atlanta Braves threw another playoff shutout, beating the Miami Marlins 2-0 Wednesday for a 2-0 lead in the NL Division Series.
The Braves have pitched three shutouts in four games this postseason. Travis d’Arnaud and Dansby Swanson each homered for the second straight day, putting Atlanta one win away from a sweep in the best-of-five matchup.
The 22-year-old Anderson scattered three hits and struck out eight over 5 2/3 innings.
The lanky right-hander who made his major league debut in late August added to his impressive outing last week in the wild-card series when he fanned nine in six scoreless frames against Cincinnati.
The 36-year-old Markakis helped preserve the shutout and the lead in the eighth.
Corey Dickerson reached on an error by Swanson at shortstop to start the inning, setting up Markakis’ heads-up play. Jon Berti sliced a high fly down the line that Markakis alertly plucked on one hop and, with Dickerson holding up to see if the ball would be caught, threw to Swanson for a forceout at second base in a close play.
Will Smith retired the next two batters and Mark Melancon, Atlanta’s fifth pitcher of the game, closed the combined three-hitter for a save.
Swanson and d’Arnaud provided the offense in this one, with both players hitting solo shots a day after the two hit multi-run homers in a huge seventh inning for the Braves in their Game 1 win.
Game 3 is Thursday in Houston.
Players from both teams behaved themselves a day after tempers flared in the opener when Braves star Ronald Acuna Jr. was nailed by a 98 mph fastball. Acuna had a quiet afternoon, going 0 for 4 and striking out all four times.
Swanson’s homer off Pablo Lopez put the Braves up 1-0 with two outs in the second inning.
There was one out in the fourth when d’Arnaud launched his soaring home run to left field, where it bounced off a metal sign high on the wall making a loud bang.
Cameras panned to Anderson in the dugout, and the pitcher smiled broadly as he watched the ball sail away.
ATHLETICS 9, ASTROS 7: Chad Pinder tied the score with a three-run homer in the seventh inning, Sean Murphy hit a go- ahead sacrifice fly in the eighth and Oakland rallied past Houston to avoid elimination in their AL Division Series.
Houston leads the bestof-five series 2-1 and can advance to its fourth straight AL Championship Series with a victory in Game 4 on Thursday.
The Astros wasted leads of 2-1 and 7-4, and the Athletics bounced back after giving up advantages of 1-0 and 4-2.
Houston’s bullpen had stifled Oakland in the first two games with seven shutout innings of one-hit relief, but Pinder ended that dominance.
Houston led 7-4 when Marcus Semien and Tommy La Stella had back-toback singles off Josh James starting the seventh.
Pinder hit a first-pitch slider to the opposite field for Oakland’s fifth homer, a drive chased by right fielder Kyle Tucker until he ran out of room at the short wall.
La Stella, Mark Canha, Matt Olson and Semien also homered for the A’s, whose entire infield went deep.
Teams outhomering opponents are 18-0 in the postseason.
The teams have combined for 18 homers — including seven in Game 3 — in the neutral-site series at Dodger Stadium featuring all day games.
After two straight days in the 90s, the temperature cooled to 81 degrees.