Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Braves grab series lead
ATLANTA — Rookie Ian Anderson and the Braves bullpen took a no-hit bid into the eighth inning, Austin Riley and Travis d’Arnaud drove in runs and the Braves beat the Astros 2-0 Friday night to take a 2-1 lead in the World Series.
Anderson and four relievers combined on a two-hitter.
Pinch-hitter Aledmys Díaz blooped a single leading off the eighth inning against reliever Tyler Matzek that dropped in front of left fielder Eddie Rosario, just 232 feet from home plate, for Houston’s first hit. Alex Bregman grounded a single through the wide-open side of a shifted infield against closer Will Smith leading off the ninth.
Riley’s RBI double in the third off Astros starter Luis Garcia put Atlanta ahead, and d’Arnaud hit a 437-foot homer off Kendall Graveman’s fastball in the eighth, d’Arnaud’s second home run of this World Series and first long ball at home this season.
Of the 60 previous times the Series was tied 1-1, the Game 3 winner went on to win 39 times — including six of the last nine.
Rosario walked leading off a 43-pitch half-inning in the third. Freddie Freeman singled and Garcia left an 0-1 cutter over the plate that Riley lined between Bregman and the thirdbag, and down the left-field line for an RBI double.
Jorge Soler walked, but Garcia stranded the bases loaded when Adam Duvall fouled to first and d’Arnaud struck out.
The Braves, who stranded nine runners, improved to 6-0 this postseason at Truist Park, which opened in 2017 and where they have won 11 of their last 12 games. The Atlanta stopped a fivegame home World Series losing streak.
The Astros, the top-hitting team in the majors during the season with a .267 average, was limited to two hits, three walks and two hit batters.
Anderson, a 23-yearold right-hander, pitched through spotty control, striking out four and walking three. A.J. Minter and Luke Jackson followed with an inning each.
Díaz’s hit ended the longest no-hit bid in the Series since Game 2 in 1967. Boston ace Jim Lonborg pitched a one-hitter and allowed a two-out double in the eighth to St. Louis’ Julian Javier.
Pinch-runner Jose Siri stole second with two outs in the eighth and went to third when d’Arnaud’s throw skipped into center field for an error, but Siri was stranded when Michael Brantley popped out.
While the Astros’ Dusty Baker (72) and the Braves’ Brian Snitker (66) had the highest combined ages of World Series managers, they lifted their starting pitchers on the timetable triggered by modern metrics — after exactly 18 batters each, not wanting leadoff hitters to face the same pitcher for the third time.
In the Series for the first time since 1999, the Braves won in the Series at home for the time since the sixth and final game of the 1995 World Series against Cleveland.
Anderson had the second-longest no-hit bid by a rookie starter in World Series history behind New York’s Jeff Tesreau in the 1912 opener, broken up when Boston’s Tris Speaker tripled with one out in the sixth.