ATLANTA -- Michael Harris II’s left quad hasn’t improved enough for him to resume handling his center-field responsibilities. But the ailment hasn’t negatively impacted the Braves outfielder’s red-hot bat.
Harris recorded a decisive pinch-hit double in Friday’s win and tallied his ninth multihit game of the season while serving as the designated hitter in an 8-5 loss to the Phillies in 10 innings on Saturday night at Truist Park. He went 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs, and he's now hitting .465 (20-for-43) with five homers and a 1.373 OPS over his past 13 games.
Unfortunately for the Braves, they were doomed by a couple of defensive miscues. Eli White, who was manning center field in place of Harris, slipped on the wet, rainy grass and allowed a potential out to turn into Kyle Schwarber’s leadoff triple in the eighth. Schwarber scored when Bryce Harper followed with a sacrifice fly.
The Braves certainly don’t want Harris playing on a wet surface. But even with dry conditions expected for Sunday afternoon, there’s a good chance he won’t play center field again until Tuesday’s series opener against the Tigers.
“With the off-day [on Monday], that’s probably the best-case scenario,” manager Walt Weiss said. “But things could change. He could come in feeling great in the morning.”
Harris tweaked his quad while running to second base with a double in Thursday’s 7-2 win over the Nationals. He was placed in Friday’s starting lineup and then scratched late when he felt some tightness just before batting practice. He was still healthy enough to pinch-hit a few hours later.
“He can control a lot more on the offensive side,” Weiss said. “It’s hard to do on defense, right?”
When Harris ran to second base on Friday, he didn’t have to sprint and was replaced by a pinch-runner immediately after. Nor was he forced to run the bases hard after reaching with either of his two singles on Saturday.