Michael Harris II grew up in the Atlanta area imagining October nights like this one. On Thursday at Truist Park, the Braves center fielder got a winner-take-all Wild Card moment against the Phillies and put his hometown club in front with one emphatic swing.
Harris launched a three-run homer in the first inning of Game 3 of the National League Wild Card Series, sending a sinker from Philadelphia right-hander Aaron Nola just over the wall in right-center field for a 3-0 Atlanta lead.
The at-bat began with Nola losing the strike zone. Ronald Acuña Jr. and Matt Olson each drew five-pitch walks, and Nola then fell behind Harris 2-0 after two more pitches missed the zone. Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto went to the mound, but the next pitch did not solve the problem.
Nola’s sinker arrived far below the strike zone, only 1.11 feet above the ground. Harris went down and got it anyway, driving a 100.5 mph liner toward the wall. Right fielder Bryce Harper tracked the ball to the warning track, looked up, and watched it barely carry over the brickwork.
“He got behind 2-0, then they had the mound visit,” Harris said during the NBC broadcast. “I knew they were probably trying to get a strike. The ball was a little low, but I was trying to hit it out, and I did.”
A home run from an unlikely height
The blast was the lowest pitch Harris has turned into a home run across his 101 career regular-season and postseason homers. Since pitch tracking began in 2008, it ranked as the third-lowest pitch hit for a postseason home run by any player.
For Harris, a third-round Braves selection in the 2019 Draft, it was another major moment in a strong rebound season. He hit .294/.321/.491 with a career-best 26 home runs and an .812 OPS after recording a career-low .677 OPS in 2025.
Harris had already shaped the series
The Game 3 homer came after Harris helped Atlanta take Game 1 of the series. He went 3-for-3, scored twice and laid down a sacrifice bunt in that victory.
His two-out infield single in the eighth inning of Game 1 started the decisive rally, which ended with Austin Riley’s game-winning three-run homer. By the time the series reached its deciding game, Harris had already shown he could manufacture a key inning. Thursday night, he simply gave the Braves a faster route to an early lead.
