Harris' ninth-inning homer fuels Braves' comeback at Coors

DENVER -- Being down 5-0 before recording an out in the game can give a manager pause and get the blood flowing in the bullpen. But when Walt Weiss found himself in that position in his first game back at Coors Field as a manager, he took it in stride.

Weiss managed the Rockies for four years and played shortstop for Colorado for four years before that, earning more at-bats with the Rockies than he did with the A’s, Braves, or Marlins. So he knows a thing or two about how to navigate mile-high baseball, and he drew on that experience as his team erased a six-run deficit and then sealed the 8-6 victory with a towering two-run, pinch-hit homer from Michael Harris II in Weiss’ high-altitude homecoming.

“I've seen a lot of games in this park,” Weiss said before the opener in the three-game set. “I'm not going to sit here and say I’ve got the secret sauce, but the game's a little different here. Big outfield, a lot of firsts and thirds, a lot of balls drop in. There's a lot of traffic throughout the game, on the bases. You've got to take care of the ball. Got to turn the double play that’s supposed to be turned and those types of things. It’s tough to give away extra outs in this place, but it’s still baseball. You've got to go out and play the game.”

The Rockies' five-run first came via two walks and five hits, and they added another unanswered run in the second on Mickey Moniak’s 439-foot solo homer to right.

Atlanta began battling back in the fourth when Matt Olson launched his 10th homer of the season, a 415-foot blast to right. They pushed across another unearned run in the seventh to set up the explosive eighth.

Weiss’ patience with the park paid off as the Braves loaded the bases with three free passes, then cleared them with a one-out triple down the right-field line from Mauricio Dubón to make it a 6-5 game. The Braves tied it with a sac fly from Austin Riley to plate Dubón.