ATLANTA – There are many ways to win in the World Series.
Atlanta found this unusual on Friday night: start with an “actually wild” starting passer and add a foul that resulted in a lone run in a seven-stroke exchange. Finish things off with a bulpen that almost pulled a combined no-hit and slammed the door nonetheless. The late home run did no harm due to insurance.
But Atlanta didn’t need insurance. The Braves won 2-0 to maneuver around the Houston Astros in Game 3 of the World Series and took the lead with two games against one in the showdown of the best of the seven.
On a stage where the franchise hasn’t toured since 1999, and on a night that began with a shocking gift to Hank Aaron, Atlanta has called for an unorthodox display of mastery in the game to keep the strong attack mostly dying – despite blurry balls and punches.
Beginner Ian Anderson threw five innings without allowing a goal. Then came AJ Minter, whose inning work similarly silenced Houston’s bats. Luke Jackson needed 11 pitches for Astros to retire in seventh place. And although Tyler Matzek allowed Aledmys Díaz, who was in the game a pinch kick, to allow in the eighth inning single, ending Atlanta’s quest for the first combined unconditional in World Series history, it ultimately extinguished Houston’s hopes for the evening. the result then.
Will Smith, who was closer to Atlanta, surrendered one single to start the ninth, but prevented the next three Astros.
All in all, Atlanta traversed three strokes of the Astros and hit two. His staff threw as many pitches – 133 – as Houston, but six shots less. And Dusty Baker, the manager of Astros, said Anderson’s “actually wild” trip kept Houston out of balance.
“Our guys have never been able to focus on strikes,” Baker said. “It’s no secret that they have a good bulpen, so we didn’t center too many balls tonight. We threatened a few times and we didn’t get the two RBI hits we received earlier, and it was a night without events for us. “
Although Atlanta have won, and even though Atlanta will win the World Cup for the first time since 1995, her decision to withdraw Anderson after five goalless substitutions and 76 pitches will almost certainly live up to the debate.
“I thought there was a chance I could stay,” Anderson said, “but I think when you get a chance to get to those guys at the back end, you can’t hesitate.”
Atlanta manager Brian Snitker acknowledged that his strategy “might turn around.”
But he also said he concluded that Anderson had achieved everything Atlanta could reasonably demand in the World Series match with the leadership.
At the time, however, the Snitker Club operated under the narrowest advantages on the scoreboard.
The Atlanta offensive outburst, if you could call it that, began when Eddie Rosario, a recurring star of the team’s postseason series, took the lead in the third inning and turned a 6-pitch at-bat into a walk. Freddie Freeman followed with a single to the left center.
Luis Garcia fired Ozzie Albies to keep Atlanta in first and second place with one side as Austin Riley ran to the plate and challenged the fans who accompanied him here throughout the playoffs: “MVP! MVP! MVP! “
Riley swung at the knife and missed. Garcia decided to place the same bet again.
It did not work. Riley swung toward the knife and hit it with enough zipper along the third baseline, just out of Alex Bregman’s dive range. Rosario hurried home when Freeman stopped at third and Riley headed toward second.
An outburst, the same as the one that eliminated Game 1 early, seemed imminent, perhaps even probable, especially as Jorge Soler walked in to load bases with a lone out.
But Adam Duvall was first to reach a ball launched long through the center from Travis d’Arnaud’s defense 2 minutes into the game.
Houston hid in the fourth after Anderson walked Jordan Álvarez and hit Carlos Corre with four stitches of a fast-paced ball that invaded at 94 miles per hour.
The Astros never had two men at once again, although Jose Siri, who ran for Díaz in eighth place, reached third place due to a stolen base and a throwing error that caused the ball to bounce into the midfield. Matzek, however, immediately forced the ball from Michael Brantley’s stick to end the threat.
In the bottom half of the round, Houston’s Kendall Graveman picked up two quick exits before d’Arnaud, who may have been looking for a buyout rate after Atlantis ’potential rally in the third inning shortened, stepped into the field of impact.
Graveman was the first to offer d’Arnaud a shotgun that hit 437 yards into the grandstand in the middle.
And Garcia’s strong performance, which came out in the fourth inning with two outs and allowed one run with three goals, was further wasted.
“I don’t think we swung that for one game,” Bregman said. “I think we rinse it off and move on to the next day and have a brief memory. You have to in this game. “
Game 4 is scheduled for Saturday night in Atlanta, and Game 5 is scheduled for Sunday. If Atlanta also loses, the series will return to Houston on Tuesday, just days after one opportunity for history fell through late.
No, the Atlanta players insisted that it all bothered them so much.
“The goal of every game is to win,” d’Arnaud said. “I think it would have been a no-hit bonus, but when they got that goal, that wasn’t our goal when the match started. It was just to go out, exercise the pitch, get out and end up winning. That’s what we did in the end. “