Harris and Braves bullpen hold off Dodgers to tie NLDS

Michael Harris II collected a single, triple and double as the Atlanta Braves beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 3–2 on Sunday night, evening their National League Division Series at one game apiece. Atlanta’s bullpen carried the lead through the late innings, and Raisel Iglesias recorded the final out at Dodger Stadium.

Harris supplied the two scoring moments that separated the teams after Freddie Freeman had tied the game. He tripled to left in the fifth inning and came home on a Kris Bubic wild pitch, putting Atlanta ahead 2–1. His seventh-inning double to right then scored Matt Olson for the insurance run.

MLB’s video of the triple shows the swing that began the fifth-inning rally. Harris reached third before the wild pitch brought him across, giving the Braves an advantage they carried through the final four innings.

Harris finished 3-for-5 with a run batted in and two runs scored. Olson had a hit, a walk and the run driven in by Harris. Mauricio Dubón supplied Atlanta’s first RBI with an infield single in the opening inning, when Ronald Acuña Jr. scored against Blake Snell.

The Braves made Snell work through repeated traffic. He walked five and allowed three hits in 3⅔ innings, throwing 90 pitches while surrendering one run. Atlanta did not turn all of those baserunners into runs, but the early pitch count sent Los Angeles into its bullpen before the fourth inning was complete.

Freeman brought the Dodgers level in the bottom of the fourth with a solo homer to right, his seventeenth career postseason home run. It came against the club for which he had hit nine of those October homers, as MLB noted with its clip of the tying swing.

The Braves had chosen another bullpen game rather than starting Chris Sale on short rest. ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez reported before the game that Atlanta wanted Sale at full strength for Game 3 on Tuesday in Atlanta after his relief appearance in the Wild Card round. Ray Kerr began Game 2 with 2⅔ scoreless innings and four strikeouts.

Grant Holmes allowed Freeman’s homer, but Dylan Lee and Robert Suarez helped bridge the game to Fuentes. Fuentes held Los Angeles hitless through his first 3⅔ innings before Max Muncy’s two-out homer in the ninth reduced the lead to one. He finished with one hit and one run allowed, three strikeouts and no walks.

Harris’ seventh-inning double gave Atlanta room to finish. MLB’s accompanying highlight captured his third hit of the night, leaving him a homer short of the cycle.

Muncy’s 397-foot drive to right-center gave the Dodgers another chance with two outs. Atlanta turned to Iglesias against pinch-hitter Josue De Paula, who fouled out to third to end the game. The Dodgers’ video shows the late homer that forced that final pitching change.

The series now moves to Atlanta tied rather than with the Braves facing a two-game deficit. Los Angeles won Saturday’s opener 5–3; Sunday’s result gives Atlanta a fresh start at home with Sale scheduled to take the ball.