Harris II's 9th-Inning Blast Seals Atlanta's 4-2 Win in Milwaukee

Michael Harris II ended any suspense with a 380-foot homer to right in the ninth inning, his only hit of the night but the one that mattered most. Atlanta took down Milwaukee 4-2 on Sunday, grinding out a win that required a late defensive gift and a clutch finishing blow.

Atlanta got on the board first in the second when Mauricio Dubón laced a ground rule double to score Ozzie Albies, putting the Braves up 1-0. Milwaukee answered immediately in the third — Jake Bauers singled to right to score Turang and knot it at one. The Braves retook the lead in the fourth when Sean Murphy reached on an infield single to third, scoring Baldwin to make it 2-1. It was a back-and-forth early game that neither side could fully grab hold of.

The sixth inning is where things got messy — and where Atlanta pulled away. Dubón scored on a fielding error by Milwaukee's first baseman, with Harris II reaching safely and Riley ending up at third on the same play. A two-run swing built on a gift, but Atlanta took it, stretching the lead to 3-1. Milwaukee wasn't done, though. In the eighth, a Lara triple to right scored Yelich, cutting the deficit to one and briefly breathing life back into the home crowd. That play swung Milwaukee's win probability from 12% to 27% — the biggest single-play momentum shift of the game. For a moment, it looked like the Brewers had a real shot.

Then Harris II shut the door. His solo shot to right in the ninth — 380 feet, no drama — restored the two-run cushion and ended Milwaukee's comeback bid at 4-2. On the mound, Tyler Mahle gave Atlanta five innings, allowing 6 hits and 1 earned run with 4 strikeouts, while Shane Drohan matched him with five innings for Milwaukee but surrendered 8 hits and 2 earned runs. The story of the night, though, appears to be Atlanta's ability to manufacture runs in multiple ways — a timely double, a soft infield single, a botched play in the field — and then punctuate it all with Harris II's authoritative finish. Dubón (1 RBI, 1 R) and Murphy (1 RBI) were quiet contributors who kept the offense ticking when it needed to move. Albies went 2-for-5 and scored once. For Milwaukee, Yelich went 2-for-3 and scored, but the Brewers couldn't string enough together when it counted.