Michael Harris II leads Braves to big win over Mets

ATLANTA — Michael Harris II seemed to get the message after Braves manager Brian Snitker said his team needed to treat each of its remaining regular-season games like it was Game 7 of a postseason series.

Harris enjoyed one of the best games of his young career while backing Spencer Schwellenbach and improving the Braves’ postseason hopes with a 5-1 win over the Mets on Tuesday night at Truist Park. The dynamic center fielder finished a triple shy of the cycle, energized the home crowd with a diving catch and etched his name in a rivalry he learned about growing up in suburban Atlanta.

“I did have some favorite players on the Mets, sadly,” Harris said. “But still, when [the Braves] played them, I didn’t really like them. Now that I’m here in the big leagues, it’s fun to play against them.”

While Harris created the highlights, Schwellenbach added to the splendor of his great rookie season. The 24-year-old right-hander received a standing ovation after limiting the Mets to three hits and one run over seven innings.

“The juices were definitely flowing,” Schwellenbach said. “We’ve got five more games left. We need every single one of them. This is basically the playoffs starting now for us.”

With the win in the opener of this three-game set, the Braves moved to one game behind the Mets and just a half-game behind the D-backs, who lost to the Giants, in the battle for the National League’s final two Wild Card spots.

The Braves really don’t have much room for error with five games remaining. But by winning this three-game series, they would gain the tiebreaker against the Mets. They already own the tiebreaker against the D-backs.

“We’ve got to come out and do the same thing the next two days to control our destiny,” Harris said.

Harris fueled a three-run third inning with an RBI double to the right-field corner off Mets starter Luis Severino. He capped his fifth straight multihit game and fourth three-hit effort in the past five games with an opposite-field home run in the fourth.

The line-drive blast came off his bat at 111.5 mph and traveled a projected 422 feet, per Statcast. It stands as the hardest-hit and longest opposite-field home run of Harris’ career.

“He’s the best center fielder in baseball,” Schwellenbach said. “The way he goes and catches baseballs is unbelievable. But he’s getting hot at the right time and we needed that. He’s just been playing incredible baseball.”

Harris missed two months with a left hamstring strain he suffered on June 14. He needed a little time to shake off the rust and regain his rhythm. But he has certainly seemed to have found a groove while hitting .417 with a 1.288 OPS over his past 13 games going back to Sept. 10.

“I’m just going out there being myself and hoping the results come with it,” Harris said. “Sometimes you can do everything right and the results don’t show. This past week, I’ve been getting the results and just getting more confident.”

Schwellenbach’s effort was aided when Harris raced in toward shallow center and dove headfirst to rob Ronald Acuña Jr.’s younger brother, Luisangel Acuña, of a hit in the fifth inning. Per Statcast, the sinking liner had a 30 percent catch probability.

“He reminded me of Andruw [Jones],” Snitker said of the Braves’ former 10-time Gold Glove center fielder.

Schwellenbach isn’t going to win the NL Rookie of the Year honor that was given to Harris in 2022. But his first big league season has been quite impressive, especially considering the fact he started this year with High-A Rome and reached the Majors in May with just two starts above that level.

Still, he hasn’t blinked. In fact, he’s been at his best against top competition.

Here is how he has fared against the NL’s other playoff candidates:

Phillies: 18 1/3 innings, five earned runs
Dodgers: six innings, two earned runs
Padres: seven innings, one earned run
Mets: 14 innings, one earned run
Brewers and D-backs: No starts

Not bad for somebody who said the biggest games he played before this year came in NCAA Regional games while serving as the University of Nebraska’s shortstop and closer.

“It’s baseball,” Schwellenbach said. “It’s a game I love. There’s nothing I love more than to go out and pitch well against a good team.”