PHILADELPHIA -- Put the bat on the ball and good things tend to happen. Yuli Gurriel would certainly agree.

Gurriel stroked a run-scoring single as part of a five-run fifth inning in Wednesday¡¯s historic 5-0 Astros win over the Phillies in Game 4 of the World Series at Citizens Bank Park, extending his streak to 46 plate appearances without a strikeout this postseason.

¡°Contact is huge in the World Series,¡± Astros manager Dusty Baker said. ¡°I have faith in Yuli because Yuli's been on the world stage even before he got here. You're on the world stage in Cuba; anybody that's ever been to Cuba, you¡¯ve got to play to eat.¡±

When Gurriel popped out to end the seventh inning, he surpassed Baker¡¯s string of 46 plate appearances for the 1981 Dodgers to claim the fifth-longest streak of plate appearances without a K to begin a postseason, behind Joey Cora (51, 1995), David Eckstein (50, 2006), Gurriel (48, 2019) and Tim Foli (48, 1979).

Yet the most memorable moment of Gurriel¡¯s evening did not take place with a bat in his hands. He was on the receiving end of the throw from third baseman Alex Bregman that retired J.T. Realmuto, sealing the second no-hitter (and first combined no-no) in World Series play.

Bregman was asked when he began thinking about the possibility of a no-hitter.?

¡°When Yuli caught the ball at first base to end it, to be honest,¡± Bregman said. ¡°I promise you every single person in the dugout just wanted one thing today and that was to win.¡±

Along the way, Gurriel¡¯s current streak has seen him extend his record for most World Series hits by a Cuban-born player (26). Gurriel surpassed Hall of Famer Tony P¨¦rez (23) with a second-inning single in Houston¡¯s Game 3 loss.

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P¨¦rez played in four World Series (1970, ¡¯72, ¡¯75, ¡¯76) with the Reds and one with the Phillies (¡®83), collecting 23 hits in 27 games.

Gurriel is playing in his fourth World Series (2017, ¡¯19, ¡¯21, ¡¯22). He surpassed P¨¦rez¡¯s mark in his 22nd game.

¡°I just knew that Yuli was going to come through for us,¡± Baker said. ¡°He's worked hard. He kept his head straight. That was a big fifth run, because you always want to play for that fifth run to keep them out of [grand] slam reach.¡±