The Braves’ offense began and ended with Michael Harris II. In between his two big moments, their pitching – namely Chris Sale and Raisel Iglesias – kept them in the game.
The Braves on Friday grinded out a 3-2 win in 10 innings over the Nationals at Truist Park. Atlanta walked it off on an error.
As they say: A win is a win is a win. And a Braves team that has dealt with so much poor luck will take this one fortunate bounce.
The Braves continue to find a way.
Five observations:
1. Whew.
This homestand has been … exhilarating? Exciting? Nerve-wracking?
All would fit.
But Friday’s win was fun.
“It was a lot of fun,” Sale said. “Grinder game, too, from both sides. Kind of from the jump, it was kind of one of those dogfight games.”
“That was a lot of fun,” Harris, who ended the game, said. “Going down to the wire, late innings and trying to minimize runs. … It was good to win.”
The Braves led by a run, then found themselves behind by a run. They tied it in the seventh when Orlando Arcia lifted a sacrifice fly. They went to extras. They survived.
The Braves have won three of four games in this homestand. They have two one-run victories and a two-run win. None of their last five games has been decided by more than two runs. They are 4-1 in that stretch.
“It kind of trains you for these later-in-the-season games and late-game situations where you have to really play small ball or do the little things to win games late,” Harris said of these nail-biters. “Yeah, I think it just trains you mentally and physically.”
2. With two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning, Luke Williams stood at third base. Harris stepped into the batter’s box.
Harris grounded a ball right to CJ Abrams, who went to Blessed Trinity Catholic in Roswell. Abrams bounced a throw to Juan Yepez, who couldn’t pick it. It bounced off of his glove. Harris was safe. Williams scored.
Game over.
“Coaches always told me, ‘If you put the ball in play and hustle, good things can happen,’” Harris said. “In that situation – runner on third, two outs – just put the ball in play, and you never know what happens next.”
This was a routine play. The game should’ve gone to the 11th inning. But Harris is fast, and he sprinted down the line.
Harris almost certainly sped up Abrams with a “hard 90″ – hustling to the bag.
“If it’s a hard 90, you can rush guys into what you saw happen tonight,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “And I saw the replay – Michael was busting it down there. … I think that’s huge for teams. And they know that. I can’t remember the last time we’ve benefited from an error.”
Harris agreed with that last statement. It was nice for Atlanta to finally get some good fortune.
“Yeah, for sure,” Harris said. “I feel like we’ve gotten a lot of balls hit hard and they find a way in the glove. To be able to have an error walk-off, it’s pretty cool.”
3. After a recent win in San Francisco, Snitker said Iglesias was probably the best teammate he’d ever been around. He repeated that after Friday’s win.
“A lot of these closers are divas, and he’s the exact opposite of that,” Snitker said. “It doesn’t matter if he gets a save. If he gets that last out of the game and he comes off the field, he’s the happiest guy going, because we won the game. It’s not about him, his numbers. And when you’re like that, the numbers take care of themselves. He’s always ready to pitch, he’s ready to go above and beyond all the time, he comes in here every day with a smile, (is) consistent in his work, how he prepares.”
Iglesias threw a perfect ninth inning, then followed it with a scoreless 10th. This was his third two-inning appearance of the season.
When Iglesias hit a batter to begin the 10th, he snapped a streak of 38 consecutive batters retired, dating to July 27. The streak was the longest of its kind for a Brave in the expansion era (since 1961). It was the longest such run in the majors since 2014.
Even after hitting the batter, Iglesias escaped the inning unscathed.
“You always just kind of get lost in it,” Sale said of Iglesias’ dominance. “You almost come to expect it now. Who he is, the routine he has – I would say it’s surprising, but it’s really not.”
4. Harris on Friday hit the first leadoff homer off his career. It came off MacKenzie Gore.
“Well, it was my dad’s birthday, so I had to do something,” Harris said. “So, I guess that was something for him.
For his birthday, Michael Harris Sr. went to the game. From the seats behind center field, he chirped at his son. He called him by his nickname, “Deuce.” No one else noticed because, well, young Michael is the only one who knows that nickname. At one point, he looked back at his father and shook his head.
It was a fun moment.
5. Sale on Friday logged a 12th start of at least seven innings this season. It’s the second most in the majors to San Francisco’s Logan Webb, who has gone seven or more innings 15 times.
Sale had only eight of these outings over the previous four seasons.
On Friday, he allowed two runs, but it could’ve been none if Jorge Soler had made a catch in right field in the fourth inning.
“It was just kind of a grind,” Sale said. “They were giving me everything I could handle. It seemed like they were aggressive at times and then I feel like I got into a few full counts. I never really found a rhythm of the game, but was always kind of trying to find a way to limit the damage. There was a lot of traffic, guys were running a lot.”
The Braves appreciate having Sale.
“He’s going out there dominating every team he gets the ball against,” Harris said. “He gives us the best chance to win games like this – close games. Just giving our offense a chance to go put up runs late.”
Stat to know
8 of 11 - The Braves have won eight of their last 11 games, dating to Aug. 12 in San Francisco. Before this, they hadn’t won eight contests in an 11-game span since June 14-26.
Quotable
“I would even argue that it’s been kind of the full season. I heard something the other day: The only game our opening day lineup played in together was opening day. It kind of seems like one thing after the other. But you look at the group that we have, the leadership that we have, the staff that we have – overcoming those things when you’re resilient and you have the group that we have becomes a little bit easier.” - Sale on how the Braves have responded to the news of Austin Riley suffering a hand fracture
Up next
On Saturday at 7:20 p.m., Charlie Morton will pitch for Atlanta in the second game of the series. Right-hander Jake Irvin will start for Washington.
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