3 stats that define the Astros’ World Series no-hitter

Stats that defined Astros no-hitter: 2. 97 pitches

Dusty Baker had a decision no manager would relish making. Javier, on cruise control, came off the mound after the sixth inning at 97 pitches on the night.

Javier was the first pitcher to take a no-hit bid into the seventh inning of a World Series game since Jerry Koosman of the “Miracle Mets” of 1969. He had a chance to join Don Larsen as the only pitchers to throw a no-hitter in the World Series, and Roy Halladay (who threw his on the same mound 12 years ago, against Baker’s Reds) in the postseason no-hit club.

But he wouldn’t get a chance to finish it. Javier had only eclipsed 100 pitches twice this season, including the 115 he threw in his seven no-hit innings against the Yankees in June. He hadn’t pitched in 11 days and had only two outings in the last month. So Baker made the call: Javier’s night was done.

“It’s baseball in 2022,” Baker said following the game. “You think about, especially a young player, you think about his health and his career as much as you think about that game. We had a really fresh bullpen. Extremely fresh bullpen. One of the best bullpens around. I had full faith that they could do the job.”

Shutouts in the World Series are becoming an extinct species. There hasn’t been a complete game shutout in eight years, since Madison Bumgarner in 2014, and only two over the last 20 years.

Just this season, 12 pitchers were removed from a game in the same situation as Javier, with a no-hitter intact into the seventh inning or later. That is more times than in the seven decades between 1920 and 1989, when it only happened 11 times.

Baker never envisioned having to make that decision, but what really mattered for the Astros was the scoreboard and the fact the series, now even up at two, is headed back to Houston. “I don’t know. I’ve never been in that position,” Baker said about removing a pitcher in the middle of a World Series no-hitter. “The important thing is we won the game…and we get to go back to Houston no matter what happens tomorrow. And tomorrow is as big a game as it was today,”

Larsen’s place alone in the baseball record books is secure, and given how starting pitchers are treated in today’s game, likely will be for much longer. But the Astros still did something historic on Wednesday, even if they have to share it four ways.