Braves Even NLDS Behind Michael Harris II, Beat Dodgers 3-2 in Game 2

Michael Harris II tripled, singled and doubled, scoring the go-ahead run on a wild pitch as Atlanta split the first two NLDS games in Los Angeles.

Michael Harris II finished a home run shy of the cycle and scored the tiebreaking run on a wild pitch Sunday night, as the Atlanta Braves edged the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2 to square their National League Division Series at one game apiece.

Harris had a hand in every Atlanta rally. He singled in the third, tripled with two outs in the fifth — the first triple of his postseason career — and came home when Los Angeles reliever Kris Bubic uncorked a wild pitch to put the Braves up 2-1. In the seventh, he added a two-out RBI double off Edgardo Henriquez for an insurance run.

Braves manager Walt Weiss called it a great game for Harris and said the postseason, which follows no script, tends to produce unlikely heroes. He added that earning a split in the Dodgers' ballpark against this opponent was, in his word, awesome.

Atlanta struck first in the opening inning. Ronald Acuña Jr. singled, stole second and scored on Mauricio Dubón's two-strike, bases-loaded single, which Mookie Betts stopped with a dive at shortstop but could not turn into an out. Freddie Freeman answered for Los Angeles in the fourth, tying the game with a two-strike solo homer off reliever Grant Holmes in his first postseason meeting with his former club.

Dodgers starter Blake Snell never found a rhythm. The two-time Cy Young Award winner lasted just 3 2/3 innings — his shortest postseason outing since 2022 with San Diego — allowing one run on three hits. He threw 90 pitches with only 47 strikes, walked five, struck out five and needed 27 pitches to survive the first. A team spokesman said Snell left the ballpark because of a family emergency and was not available to reporters afterward.

With both teams effectively in bullpen mode — Ray Kerr opened for Atlanta so Chris Sale could get extra rest ahead of Game 3 — relievers controlled the night. After Betts walked and Shohei Ohtani singled to open the fifth, Braves pitching retired 14 consecutive Dodgers. Los Angeles left seven runners on base across the first five innings.

The Dodgers pushed late. Roki Sasaki, their sixth pitcher, loaded the bases in the eighth on a walk, a hit batsman and an intentional walk, only for Acuña to ground into an inning-ending double play. Max Muncy's two-out homer on a two-strike pitch from Didier Fuentes cut the margin to 3-2 in the ninth, but closer Raisel Iglesias, Atlanta's fifth reliever, sealed his second save by getting pinch-hitter Josue De Paula to foul out to third.

Ohtani, a four-time MVP, went 1 for 4 with two strikeouts and has now been quiet in back-to-back games. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said his hitters chased too many pitches out of the zone, and Freeman said the team must find ways to score without relying on the long ball.

Offense was far scarcer than in the opener, when the teams combined for five home runs in Los Angeles's 5-3 victory. The series now shifts to Atlanta, where Sale is set to face Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 3 on Tuesday, October 6 at Truist Park. First pitch is 6:00 PM EDT, with the broadcast on FS1.