Today's Three Things: Michael Harris Imitates Kirk Gibson Off the Bench in Win
Harris' two-run pinch-hit double was the dagger for Atlanta as they extended Philadelphia's losing streak
The Atlanta Braves took down the Philadelphia Phillies 5-3 in Truist Park on Friday night, extending Philly’s losing streak to ten games.
Here is Today’s Three Things from the contest.
The Turning Point
The bottom of the 6th.
With Atlanta trailing 3-2 thanks to homers from Trea Turner (2-run shot in 3rd inning) and Bryce Harper (solo shot in 5th), the bottom of the Braves’ order got to work. Dominic Smith picked up a one-out single, advancing to second when Mauricio Dubón drew a mostly non-competitive five-pitch walk off of starter Andrew Painter.
And then Michael Harris II checked into the game.
Originally on the lineup card but scratched when his left quad tightness popped back up during warm-ups, manager Walt Weiss called for Harris to hit for Eli White with two outs and a runner in scoring position.
Harris delivered, sending a double over the head of left fielder Brandon Marsh and bringing in both Smith and Dubón.
Jorge Mateo, who replaced Harris on the basepaths, then added more insurance by stealing third and scoring on a wild pitch. After an eight-pitch walk of Ronald Acuña Jr., Phillies manager Rob Thomson finally pulled Painter and lefty reliever Kyle Bachus got a sharply hit fly ball from Drake Baldwin, one that centerfielder Justin Crawford ran down to end the inning.
Today’s Player of the Game
Receiving 74.8% of the vote from the Postcast live chat, it’s Michael Harris II.
We’ve already covered what Harris did, but the way in which it happened bears mentioning - process can explain results and outcomes, and it’s applicable here.
Harris’ at-bat started with the chase-happy centerfielder laying off of two pitches off the plate - the first a curveball down and away, the second a fastball up and away. Already down 2-0, the starter Painter had to come back towards the zone and actually executed a well-placed fastball, just touching the zone on the outer third and down.
Didn’t matter - Harris used an inside-out swing to get this one to the left-center wall and staking Atlanta to a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
This is a strategy that opposing pitchers have been using on Harris this season - the percentage of first pitch strikes he’s seeing has dropped from its usual mid-60s percent of the last few seasons to just 55.6% this year, and he’s adjusted his at-bats accordingly to get into hitter’s counts.
Honorable mention to Ronald Acuña Jr., who hit a homer and drew two walks tonight. The second of those was called from the dugout by manager Rob Thomson, bypassing Acuña to set up a left-on-left matchup for…Drake Baldwin. Not a great tactical decision.
What You’ll Be Talking About
Manager Walt Weiss and his aggressive decisions tonight.
It’s clear at this point that Weiss is all gas, no breaks when it comes to seizing the win; the Harris pinch-hit decision illustrates that well.
It’s worth discussing his bullpen usage tonight, too, With Raisel Iglesias on the injured list and setup man Dylan Lee down after a back-to-back, Weiss had to piece things together to get to Robert Suarez in the 9th. He went with lefty sidearmer Aaron Bummer for the top of the order, with Bummer getting groundouts of both Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper as part of a clean 7th. He then went to Joel Payamps, who allowed three runs in one inning earlier in the week, for the bottom of the order in the 8th and was rewarded with one hit but no runs.
It was a calculated risk - the pair combined for one whiff and three hard-hit balls, allowing eight balls in play but only two hits, both singles. But for one night, the risk worked and both Lee and slider master Tyler Kinley got a much-needed night off.
Looking for more discussion about this game?
Here’s tonight’s Postcast, with me and Locked On Braves host Jake Mastroianni, as we went live to break down the win/loss.
What’s Next for the Braves?
Atlanta’s hoping to go ahead and win the series on Saturday evening. Bryce Elder (3-1, 1.50 ERA) takes on the debuting Zack Wheeler (offseason thoracic outlet surgery) at 7:15 PM ET on BravesVision.