November 2, 2022: For only the 2nd time, a no-hitter is pitched in the World Series. This being the 21st Century, it took 4 pitchers to do it.
The heavily favored Houston Astros went into Game 4 of the World Series having lost Game 1 to the Philadelphia Phillies, then won Game 2, then got clobbered with 5 home runs in Game 3. They needed a good pitching performance. They got a great one, the 2nd-greatest in Series history, behind the perfect game pitched by Don Larsen for the New York Yankees against the Brooklyn Dodgers at Yankee Stadium in Game 5 in 1956.
Cristian Javier started, and went 6 innings, allowing only 2 baserunners, a leadoff walk to Bryce Harper in the 2nd, and a 1-out walk to Brandon Marsh in the 3rd. He struck out 9 batters. But Astro manager Dusty Baker took him out. Javier had thrown 97 pitches -- the same number Larsen had thrown in 9 innings in his perfecto.
Aaron Nola started for the Phillies, and he was pretty strong over the 1st 4 innings, allowing just 3 singles and hitting a batter. But he imploded in the 5th, allowing 3 straight singles to start the inning, to Chas McCormick, José Altuve and Jeremy Peña. José Alvarado not only couldn't stop the bleeding, he aggravated the wound, hitting Yordan Álvarez to let in a run, allowing a double by Alex Bergman that scored 2, a sacrifice fly by Kyle Tucker that scored another, and a single by Yuli Gurriel to score yet another. It was 5-0 Astros.
Bryan Abreu pitched the 7th for the Astros, and struck out the side, using only 15 pitches. But Baker didn't send him back out for the 8th. Instead, he sent Rafael Montero, who sent the Phils down 1-2-3. Finally, he sent Ryan Pressly out for the 9th. He struck Marsh out to start, then walked Kyle Schwarber. There was a little bit of hope. But Pressly got Rhys Hoskins to fly to right, and got J.T. Realmuto to ground to 3rd.
The Astros had a no-hitter, by 5 pitchers, the 1st in World Series play in 66 years. Total pitches: 141, or 45 percent more than Larsen threw. More importantly, it tied the Series at 2-2. The Astros never looked back, and won the Series in 6 games.
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November 2, 2022 was a Wednesday. Football was in midweek. There were 11 games played in the NBA:
* The New York Knicks lost to the Atlanta Hawks, 112-99 at Madison Square Garden. Dejounte Murray of the Hawks led all scorers on the night with 36 points.
* The Washington Wizards beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 121-111 at the Wells Fargo Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.
* The Miami Heat beat the Sacramento Kings, 110-107 at the FTX Arena (now the Kaseya Center) in Miami.
* The Los Angeles Clippers beat the Houston Rockets, 109-101 at the Toyota Center in Houston.
* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Utah Jazz, 103-100 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
* The Toronto Raptors beat the San Antonio Spurs, 143-100 at the AT&T Center (now the Frost Bank Center) in San Antonio.
* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Boston Celtics, 114-113 at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse (now the Rocket Arena) in Cleveland.
* The Chicago Bulls beat the Charlotte Hornets, 106-88 at the United Center in Chicago.
* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Detroit Pistons, 116-91 at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.
* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the New Orleans Pelicans, 120-117 in overtime at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
* And the Memphis Grizzlies beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 111-106 at the Moda Center in Portland.
And there were 2 games in the NHL. The Buffalo Sabres beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 6-3 at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo. And the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 5-2 at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
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