The Latest: Braves make pitching change, no-hitter intact

ATLANTA (AP) — The Latest on Game 3 of the World Series (all times local):

10:45 p.m.

The Atlanta Braves made a pitching change, but their no-hitter in Game 3 of the World Series remains intact after six innings.

Ian Anderson threw five scoreless innings, walking three and hitting a batter, before giving way to A.J. Minter with the Braves up 1-0.

Minter got through the sixth unscathed. He plunked Alex Bregman with an 0-2 pitch but struck out two, including Yordan Alvarez to end the frame.

Anderson struggled with his command during a 76-pitch outing. He threw only 39 pitches for strikes, but it was good enough to hand off to the bullpen with the Braves ahead in what is shaping up as the first close game of the Series.

The advantage could be bigger for the home team. The Braves are only 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position, leaving nine men on base.

Atlanta is going for its first home World Series win since a Game 6 victory over Cleveland in 1995. That night, Tom Glavine and Mark Wohlers combined for a one-hitter in a 1-0 victory that gave the Braves their only championship since moving to the Deep South in 1966.

In two World Series appearances since then, the Braves have lost five straight home games — three of them at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, the other two at Turner Field. This is their first Series game since moving to Truist Park in 2017.

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10:20 p.m.

Ian Anderson has a no-hitter for the Braves through five innings on a wet, chilly night in Atlanta.

And after a dugout handshake from manager Brian Snitker, it looks like the 23-year-old is heading to the showers, anyway.

Anderson pitched a perfect fifth against Houston on nine pitches, ending with a three-pitch strikeout of pinch-hitter Marwin Gonzalez. He walked three and threw just 39 of his 76 pitches for strikes in rainy conditions, but he also struck out four and was well short of his season high of 110 pitches.

With the top of the Astros’ order due up in the sixth, Snitker had A.J. Minter warming in the bullpen, meaning Anderson won’t come close to finishing what he started.

It’s the closest a Braves pitcher has come to a postseason no-hitter since Derek Lowe pitched 5 1/3 no-hit innings against San Francisco in the 2010 NL Division Series, according to ESPN. Anderson is also the second rookie with at least five innings of no-hit ball in a World Series game after Jeff Tesreau went 5 1/3 frames in Game 1 of the 1912 Fall Class for the New York Giants.

Houston’s Yimi Garcia worked around a walk to Jorge Soler and Adam Duvall’s infield single to pitch a scoreless bottom of the inning, keeping the Braves’ lead at 1-0.

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10:07 p.m.

Ian Anderson has not allowed a hit through four innings and the Atlanta Braves took a 1-0 lead into the fifth against Houston.

The 23-year-old right-hander, already making his eighth career postseason start in two major league seasons, has pitched around three walks while keeping the hard-hitting Astros off the scoreboard. He has three strikeouts but has thrown only 33 of 67 pitches for strikes.

Anderson retired the first two batters in the fourth, then walked Yordan Alvarez and grazed Carlos Correa with a pitch. Kyle Tucker nubbed a slow roller between the mound and third base, and Anderson threw him out at first on a play that was more difficult than it looked in a misty rain on a wet field.

Atlanta scored in the third on Austin Riley’s RBI double off rookie starter Luis Garcia, who got a quick hook from manager Dusty Baker in the fourth. Garcia got two outs on two pitches, but was pulled for lefty Blake Taylor with left-handed hitters Eddie Rosario and Freddie Freeman coming up the third time through the order.

Taylor gave up a two-strike single on a high fastball to Rosario, then struck out Freeman swinging.

Garcia fanned six and walked four in 3 2/3 innings. He threw 72 pitches.

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9:32 p.m.

Austin Riley responded to “MVP!” chants by hitting an RBI double that gave the Braves a 1-0 lead after three innings.

Fans in every deck were standing when Riley’s hard grounder down the line got past diving third baseman Alex Bregman. Atlanta was in great position to add more with the bases loaded and one out, but Astros righty Luis Garcia got Adam Duvall on a foul pop and fanned Travis d’Arnaud.

Braves starter Ian Anderson hasn’t allowed a hit so far. He fanned Jose Altuve — who continued to draw derisive “Cheater!” chants — to end the inning and has retired seven in a row.

Not a single hitter in the Houston starting lineup had ever faced him before tonight, and it shows. No one on the Braves had seen Garcia, either. There already have been a bevy of check-swings on both sides.

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9 p.m.

Atlanta’s Travis d’Arnaud got the first hit of World Series Game 3, doubling off the right-field wall against Houston’s Luis Garcia with two outs in the second inning Friday night.

With the Series tied at one game apiece and shifting to the National League city, there was no designated hitter.

Following d’Arnaud’s hit on a full-count fastball, No. 8 hitter Dansby Swanson was intentionally walked to bring up pitcher Ian Anderson, who had been 2 for 37 at the plate during the regular season and 0 for 2 in the postseason.

Anderson struck out on a 1-2 cutter in the dirt.

In the first World Series game in Atlanta since 1999, Anderson walked two in the first and retired the side in order in the second.

Third baseman Austin Riley caught Kyle Tucker’s flyout in right field foul territory in the second. With the left-handed-hitting Tucker at the plate, Riley was shifted across the infield into short right.

Anderson threw 15 of 30 pitches for strikes in the first two innings, averaging 94.8 mph with his four-seam fastball, a tad above his 94.6 mph average this year coming in. He walked two and struck out one.

Garcia threw 20 of 37 pitches for strikes and averaged 95.8 mph, well above his season average of 93.3 mph. Garcia’s average went up in his previous start after he adjusted foot placement during his delivery.

He struck out four and walked two.

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8:35 p.m.

Finally, a scoreless first inning in the World Series.

The Astros and Braves both failed to score in the opening frame of Game 3 at Truist Park, breaking a streak of seven straight games going back to last year’s Rays-Dodgers Series in which the first inning produced at least one run.

That streak tied a Series record set more than nine decades ago. A first-inning run was scored in all four games of the Yankees’ 1927 sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates. The trend continued through the first three games of the ’28 Series, which resulted in another New York sweep against the St. Louis Cardinals.

On a cool, dreary night in Atlanta, Braves starter Ian Anderson worked around two walks in the top half of the first. Jose Altuve led off the game, but he was erased on comebacker to the mound that Anderson turned into a 1-6-3 double play. Alex Bregman also walked, but Yordan Alvarez flied out to left to end the inning.

Houston rookie Luis Garcia also surrendered a two-out walk to Ozzie Albies in the bottom half, but Austin Riley struck out to end the inning.

The Astros had hitting coach Troy Snitker bring out the lineup card for the Astros. He and his dad, Braves manager Brian Snitker, posed for a photo with the six umpires at home plate.

But any warm feelings quickly faded away when the Astros were greeted as “Cheaters!” by the Atlanta crowd.

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8:10 p.m.

The Braves honored their late Hall of Famer, Hank Aaron, in a pregame ceremony attended by his family, including his wife Billye, who received a warm reception.

Following the national anthem, the Braves played a video tribute that included highlights of his career.

Aaron’s former Atlanta teammate, Astros manager Dusty Baker, says the decision to honor Aaron was “totally necessary.” Baker stepped outside the Astros dugout and waved across the field to Billye Aaron following her introduction. Baker also went to the mound and hugged Aaron’s family.

Aaron was 86 when he died on Jan. 22. He was honored at the All-Star Game in Denver that was originally planned for Atlanta. The Braves have had Aaron’s number 44 painted on their outfield grass all season. The Milwaukee Brewers wore his 44 on the sleeve of their uniform all season. Aaron made his major league debut with the Milwaukee Braves.

“This is the year of Hank Aaron, the year of Hank Aaron’s death,” Baker said, adding he spoke with Aaron’s wife and children earlier in the day. Baker was on deck when Aaron hit the record-breaking 715th homer on April 8, 1974.

Hank Jr. threw out the ceremonial first pitch to Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman, who said earlier Friday he had chills just thinking about Aaron.

Hank Jr. threw a strike to Freeman before the two embraced in front of the mound.

“I wish he was here to be able to watch this, especially us playing the Brewers, too, in the NLDS,” Freeman said. “I got chills right now thinking about it. … It’s going to be a special night for the Braves and everyone out there because it’s going to be a pretty amazing thing that the Braves are doing for Hank today.”

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7:15 p.m.

The tarp is being taken off the field at Truist Park, about an hour before the scheduled start of World Series Game 3 between the Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros.

The first World Series Game in Atlanta since 1999 is scheduled to start at 8:09 p.m.

It will be the first Series game at the ballpark, which opened in 2017 and replaced Turner Field.

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6:25 p.m.

The infield is still covered at Truist Park, though preparations are underway to get the field ready for Game 3.

Groundskeepers are using squeegees to take water off the tarp and they have blowers underneath to dry out the field.

Periods of rain Friday afternoon prevented both teams from taking pregame batting practice.

Astros manager Dusty Baker says he is concerned his infielders have not had a chance to test the grass and infield dirt.

Baker also worried his outfielders have not had an opportunity to test the dimensions of the outfield and also to learn how the ball bounces off different angles of the wall.

The forecast calls for a 30% chance of rain throughout the night. There are still some umbrellas being used by officials standing on the field before the scheduled pregame ceremony.

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5:20 p.m.

The tarp is on the field at Truist Park as an all-day rain continues to fall in the Atlanta area before Game 3 of the World Series.

Batting practice was canceled on the field for the Braves and Astros. Several players for both clubs loosened on the outfield grass in the corners.

The weather didn’t deter Braves coach Ron Washington from his daily drills with first baseman Freddie Freeman. With a staffer holding an umbrella, Washington hit one-hoppers to Freeman from close range.

The forecast called for the rain to stop by early evening, with temperatures in the low 50s. There hasn’t been a rainout at the World Series since 2011, when Game 6 in St. Louis between the Cardinals and Texas was delayed by a day.

By Major League Baseball rule, no postseason game can be shortened by rain and considered completed. Any game stopped by weather becomes a suspension that must be finished.

That rule was put in place in 2008, after Game 5 of the World Series in Philadelphia was suspended in the sixth inning with the Phillies and Tampa Bay tied at 2. Two days later, play resumed and the Phillies clinched the championship.

But just wondering, what if the Astros and Braves played, say, seven innings Friday night? Would they finish Saturday and then start Game 4 an hour later?

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5 p.m.

Atlanta Braves pitcher Charlie Morton has had surgery to repair the fractured right fibula sustained in the World Series opener.

The Braves said Dr. Robert Anderson operated Thursday in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Morton was struck by a liner off the bat of Houston’s Yuli Gurriel.

“The expectation is good that he should heal fine and be ready to go in spring training,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said Friday.

Snitker said Morton was to travel to Atlanta later Friday or Saturday. Morton is expected to be at Truist Park this weekend.

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4:50 p.m.

Eddie Rosario will hit leadoff and Joc Pederson will start on the bench for the Atlanta Braves as the World Series moved to Truist Park for Game 3 tied one game apiece.

Jose Siri moved to the bench for Houston with the shift to the National League ballpark, where there is no designated hitter.

Rosario was in left field, followed by first baseman Freddie Freeman, second baseman Ozzie Albies, third baseman Austin Riley, right fielder Jorge Soler, center fielder Adam Duvall, catcher Travis d’Arnaud, shortstop Dansby Swanson and pitcher Ian Anderson.

Second baseman Jose Altuve hit leadoff, followed by right fielder Michael Brantley, third baseman Alex Bregman, left fielder Yordan Alvarez, shortstop Carlos Correa, center fielder Kyle Tucker, first baseman Yuli Gurriel, catcher Martín Maldonado and pitcher Luis Garcia.

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4:35 p.m.

Astros slugger Yordan Álvarez will start in left field for Game 3 of the World Series as Houston loses the designated hitter spot.

The DH isn’t used in games at National League parks. The Atlanta Braves host Houston on Friday night at Truist Park with the matchup tied at one game apiece.

Álvarez was MVP of the AL Championship Series against Boston as a DH, and started in that slot for the first two games against Atlanta in Houston.

Álvarez has seen plenty of time in the outfield, so it won’t be a new position for him. Michael Brantley moved from left field to right to make room for Álvarez.

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