2022 World Series Game 4: Combined No-Hitter Shifts Series Momentum

The Philadelphia Phillies were riding high after Monday’s Game 3 shutout of the Houston Astros. They had slugged their way to a 2-1 series lead and home field advantage. What could go wrong?

Houston 5, Philadelphia 0

Series tied 2-2

WP: Cristian Javier

LP: Aaron Nola

Don Larsen‘s perfect game in the 1956 World Series was the only no-hitter in World Series history until Wednesday night. Javier pitched six hitless innings, striking out nine Phillies batters. He was backed by Bryan Abreu, Rafael Montero and Ryan Pressly for a combined no-hitter caught by Christian Vázquez.

The game was scoreless until the 5th inning, when the Astros erupted for five runs. Chas McCormick started the rally with a leadoff infield single. Alex Bregman‘s two-run double was the big blow.

The sudden Philly power outage is concerning as lineups full of big boppers like theirs can be prone to brutal slumps if everyone goes cold at the same time. Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber are the only members of Wednesday night’s Phillies starting squad who have posted an OPS above .800 in the 2022 postseason. Houston’s 4-0 sweep of the Yankees in the American League Championship Series was an example of what can happen when sluggers are mystified by Houston’s pitching. If the switch has been flipped, the next three games could be a struggle.

The tiebreaker game is scheduled for Thursday night at 8:03 PM ET at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. Home field advantage has been returned to Houston with their series-tying victory. The probable starters are Justin Verlander (postseason: 1-0, 7.20 ERA) and Noah Syndergaard (postseason: 0-0, 1.69 ERA).