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Atlanta nearly throws no-hitter in Game Three win
After the Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros split the first two games of the World Series in Texas, home field advantage was now with the Braves, who headed back to Georgia to try and take back the series lead. Their offense has been impressive at times in this postseason, but Atlanta is a team that is currently getting by with great pitching, and they got some of their best on Friday. Ian Anderson was on the mound for the Braves, and he was about as good as you could have hoped for. The righty didn’t allow even a hit over five innings of work.
However, Atlanta also wasn’t getting much offensively, holding just a 1-0 lead after five. Brian Snitker was not fooling around, and in fairness Anderson had given up a few walks in this game so he wasn’t exactly perfect. The Braves manager made the controversial decision to pull his starter mid-no-hitter, a move met with plenty of derision from all sorts of baseball fans. My take is that while it is not great for the game, it is the right move for winning and ultimately Snitker should only care about that.
And it worked out. Atlanta didn’t keep the no-hitter going, as Houston got a single in both the eighth and ninth innings, but the Braves bullpen did keep the shutout going the whole way through. Travis d’Arnaud added a home run for good measure, and Atlanta took a 2-1 series lead with a 2-0 win in Game Three.
Christian Koss leads way in Arizona
Down in the desert, Triston Casas had the day off but Jeter Downs and Christian Koss were in the lineup making an impact. It was the latter having the best day, starting at DH and going 3-5 with two singles a double, knocking in three and striking out once. Jeter Downs didn’t get any hits, though he did walk twice and score a run. He also made a fielding error at shortstop. On the mound, Josh Winckowski was solid, not allowing a run over 2 2⁄3 innings on a single and a double while striking out one. AJ Politi, meanwhile, allowed one run in an inning on a triple and a single with a strikeout, while Brendan Cellucci allowed one run in one inning on a pair of singles. On the other side Lars Nootbaar hit for the cycle.