World Series 2021: Braves edge Astros as manager Brian Snitker deftly handles pitching staff
By Pedro Moura
FOX Sports MLB Writer
ATLANTA — If a reliever enters a World Series game to preserve a no-hitter in progress but he doesn’t know it’s a no-hitter, is it still a no-hitter?
The Atlanta Braves tested that question in Game 3 Friday night at Truist Park. Ian Anderson fired five admittedly and effectively wild innings before manager Brian Snitker shook his hand in the Braves’ dugout and summoned left-hander A.J. Minter from his bullpen. Minter was unaware Anderson had not surrendered a hit, but he kept it up. Luke Jackson, the next man up, was also unaware Anderson and Minter had not surrendered hits. He, too, held the line. Tyler Matzek, who had the eighth, was aware. He gave it up.
When Matzek reached the dugout, Minter and Jackson asked him if he knew he had halted history.
'I had to be aggressive and keep challenging guys' — Tyler Matzek on closing out Game 3 for the Braves' win
"Yeah, I did know," he recounted to laughter afterward. "I paid attention."
The Braves could laugh about it because they beat the Astros, 2-0, and lead this World Series, 2-1. Anderson doesn’t have a no-hitter, but he is now part of a strange statistical cohort: Only two men in baseball history have finished World Series starts of at least two innings without allowing a hit: Anderson and Don Larsen, he of the 1956 perfect game.
Anderson, all of 23, hardly protested when Snitker offered his hand. He asked if he was sure, then smiled and accepted his manager’s praise. He had thrown the five no-hit innings and thrown them expeditiously. With only 76 pitches on his ledger, roughly half strikes, he could have composed a convincing argument to continue. But Snitker has made clear this October he prefers Anderson in shorter starts.
"You can’t blame him for going to those guys," Anderson said. "Those guys have come through time and time again, and they did tonight."
Before the game, Astros manager Dusty Baker expressed surprise at the degree to which his peers were prioritizing the game in front of them at the expense of the rest of the series.
"I believe in living for today," Baker said. "But I also believe in preparing for tomorrow because, if not, you just go spend up your whole paycheck today and don't worry about paying bills on the next day."
It might not look like it at first glance, but Snitker’s decision to pull Anderson exemplified living for today. Anderson tackling another inning or two would have aided the Braves’ bullpen in Games 4 and 5. But given his results when traversing a third time through an order this season, it also would have hindered the Braves’ chances of winning Game 3.
"If we can win it," Snitker said of Game 3 in the hours before it, "we're going to do everything we can to win it and worry about tomorrow, tomorrow."
He was telling the truth. But, as Baker hinted, Snitker’s choice will ultimately be proven right or wrong on the basis of this series’ outcome — not Game 3’s. It’s unclear how the Braves plan to extract 18 innings out of their bullpen over the next two games, especially considering their top four relievers all threw an inning Friday.
It’s not like the Astros have plenty of coverage, either. Baker clamored Friday for additional roster spots. He’ll start veteran Zack Greinke in Saturday’s Game 4, probably for two or three innings, then turn to his stable of relief arms. But he, unlike Snitker, has an actual starter [Framber Valdez] lined up for Sunday’s Game 5.
On Friday, rain forced both teams to alter their routines. Neither squad took batting practice, before the game or on Thursday’s off day. Snitker sat a row back in the Braves’ dugout from where he usually sits.
Almost as soon as the game began, the Braves threatened. In the second, Travis d’Arnaud doubled off of the right-field wall. In the third, Eddie Rosario walked, Freddie Freeman singled, and Austin Riley doubled down the line to score the game’s first run.
Once he loaded the bases with a walk to Jorge Soler and consulted with pitching coach Brent Strom, Astros starter Luis Garcia went back to his signature jiggy windup before each pitch. That helped him induce a popout and a strikeout to escape and keep it close.
When the top of the Braves’ lineup approached for a third time, with two outs in the fourth, Baker pulled Garcia. That, too, could be read as prioritizing Game 3. But he managed to stay away from most of his top relievers. The one he pitched, Kendall Graveman, surrendered the lone relief run on a d’Arnaud eighth-inning homer.
The Astros’ first hit probably shouldn’t have been a hit. Facing Matzek leading off the eighth, Aledmys Diaz blooped one into left field. Rosario let it drop despite nearing it and repeatedly calling for it, fearful of colliding with encroaching shortstop Dansby Swanson. Alex Bregman did add a clean single in the ninth, but he got nowhere. The Astros were two-hit. Baker could only note with hope that his team tends to respond to shutouts with sizable performances.
"So," he said, "I hope history repeats itself."
Anderson lost his chance at history, but he was unbothered by it. It seems the younger generation is redefining what it means to throw a no-hitter, as Anderson evinced Friday. Asked when he last threw a no-hitter, he said it was two years ago, in Double-A. He then noted that he had only thrown seven no-hit innings, and his teammate had finished it. In his mind, it remained a no-hitter.
Pedro Moura is the national baseball writer for FOX Sports. He most recently covered the Dodgers for three seasons for The Athletic. Previously, he spent five years covering the Angels and Dodgers for the Orange County Register and L.A. Times. More previously, he covered his alma mater, USC, for ESPNLosAngeles.com. The son of Brazilian immigrants, he grew up in the Southern California suburbs. Follow him on Twitter @pedromoura.
