ATLANTA — How have the defending World Series champions responded to winning five of the first six games of a seven-game homestand that brought the Mets and Astros to town?
“It’s been a good homestand,” Braves catcher Travis d’Arnaud said. “We’ve been playing good baseball and most importantly, we’ve been making fun of each other and cracking jokes with each other.”
There was certainly reason for the Braves to feel jovial as they erased a pair of extra-inning deficits on their way to claiming a 5-4 win in 11 frames over the Astros on Saturday night at Truist Park. Michael Harris II helped erase a two-run deficit in the 10th with an RBI double, and d’Arnaud capped the decisive comeback with a pinch-hit single that bounced in front of home plate and found its way to right field.
“It’s better to be lucky than good,” Braves first baseman Matt Olson said. “No, seriously, it was a good win fighting back, and Travis coming off the bench to find a hole right there.”
Yeah, Olson and d’Arnaud both may have found some luck during the final inning. But the Braves have proven to be more than lucky as they have won 11 of their last 12 games. They have whittled their National League East deficit from 5 1/2 games to three games while losing just one of the six games played against the first-place Mets and Astros during this homestand.
“Those are two of the better teams in the game,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “The guys have gone about it all week like it’s been a playoff series.”
If the postseason began today, the Braves’ starters in a series of five games or more would likely be Max Fried, Kyle Wright, Charlie Morton and Spencer Strider. These four hurlers have combined to produce a 1.76 ERA in the five games they started during the homestand.
Five days after quieting the Mets’ potent lineup, Strider recorded nine strikeouts and limited the Astros to three hits and one run over six innings. His effort was rewarded when the Braves proved resilient after the Astros scored two runs in the 10th.
As Harris spoke about receiving an eight-year, $72 million deal on Tuesday, he playfully said he doesn’t think he has emotions. Well, once again, he didn’t seem overwhelmed by any pressure as he doubled to the right-center-field gap to bring the Braves within one in the bottom of the 10th. He then scored on Robbie Grossman’s game-tying single.
Harris is just under three full months into his career, and at 21 years and 167 days old, he remains MLB’s youngest active player. But he is hitting .419 with a 1.358 OPS in late and close situations.
“I definitely love to live up to those moments late in the game, where I need to do my job or execute in certain situations,” Harris said.
The Astros had an 89 percent win probability when Vaughn Grissom grounded out ahead of Harris’ one-out double in the 10th. Houston also had a 62 percent win probability when Jeremy Peña tallied an RBI groundout in the 11th.
But this was a night when good fortune trumped probabilities. After Austin Riley walked in the 11th, Olson doubled on a check swing that sent a grounder through an empty left side of the infield. The exit velocity was 70.3 mph and the hit probability was 11 percent. The effect was significant, as it tied the game and put runners at second and third.
“I wasn’t happy that I made contact at first,” Olson said. “Then I saw nobody was standing there. So, I started laughing pretty quickly and got to second.”
Before making fun of Olson, d’Arnaud had to come off the bench and slap Ryne Stanek’s 99 mph fastball to right field before being mobbed in a walk-off celebration.
“It shows the fight and determination we have to not give up until the last out,” d’Arnaud said. “It’s a contagious thing. Once one guy does it, everybody wants to do it.”
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