Harris, bullpen help Braves beat Dodgers 3-2 to even NLDS
LOS ANGELES — The Braves found a way in every sense Sunday.
Michael Harris II had a three-hit game, drove in a run and scored another while the bullpen held the mighty Dodgers in check during a 3-2 victory at Dodger Stadium.
The win evened the National League Division Series at 1-1 as the teams head to Atlanta to play Game 3 at Truist Park at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
Braves left-handed ace Chris Sale is scheduled to start that game.
But on Sunday, the bullpen was the story before, during and after the game. And all they needed was a little bit of offense to work with.
Clinging to a 2-1 lead in the seventh, the Braves got a two-out double on a 3-2 pitch from Edgardo Henriquez off the bat of Harris. That scored Matt Olson — who had singled with one out — from first.
Didier Fuentes, the Braves’ 21-year-old right-handed reliever, held the Dodgers hitless over 3⅔ innings before allowing a solo homer to Max Muncy. Braves manager Walt Weiss was quick to go get closer Raisel Iglesias to face Josue De Paula.
Iglesias needed three pitches to get the Dodgers’ rookie to foul out to third.
Iglesias and Fuentes preserved the lead for the Braves in a game in which they never trailed.
Atlanta nearly squandered an opportunity to score in the first inning when Dodgers starter Blake Snell gave up a single to Ronald Acuña Jr. and walked Olson and Harris, respectively. Harris came to the plate, and after a visit on the mound, swung at a first-pitch fastball and fouled out to third base.
Thankfully for the Braves, Mauricio Dubón, the team’s best hitter during the regular season, with two outs and runners in scoring position, put the ball in play and beat out an infield single to score Acuña and make it 1-0.
Braves catcher Sean Murphy, however, left the bases loaded by striking out.
Ray Kerr, a lefty making his second postseason start for the Braves, got through two scoreless innings with 23 pitches. A deceptive curveball had Dodgers hitters off-balance as he struck out four.
But in the third, Miguel Rojas ripped a leadoff double into the corner in right. And with one out, Kerr walked Mookie Betts. Kerr then went to a full count on Shohei Ohtani, who he struck out in the first inning, before getting a pop up to shortstop.
Grant Holmes then came in from the bullpen and got one out on one pitch to end the Dodgers’ scoring threat.
Snell lasted just 3⅔ innings, and his 90th pitch walked Drake Baldwin with two outs in the fourth — it was Snell’s fifth walk of the game.
The Braves never capitalized off the erratic Snell, though, and had left seven men on base through their first four at-bats with just a 1-0 lead. That lead disappeared in a hurry when Freddie Freeman golfed a 2-2 slider out to right for a solo homer to start the bottom of the fourth.
Holmes lasted just three more batters after allowing a one-out single followed by a walk. Lefty Dylan Lee came in and got a strikeout and pop out to second on seven pitches.
Harris, batting with two outs in the fifth against Dodgers left-hander Kris Bubic, hit a fly ball fading away into the corner in deep left that outfielder Teoscar Hernández couldn’t catch up to, allowing Harris to race for a triple. Bubic then threw a 2-0 wild pitch with Dubón at the plate, and the Braves suddenly had a 2-1 lead.
In the bottom of that inning, after Dylan Lee allowed a walk and a single, Robert Suarez entered the game and got two fly balls to the outfield and a check-swing strikeout of Hernández on 15 pitches to keep the lead right where it was.