Michael Harris II gave the Atlanta Braves a postseason moment worth pausing over on Sunday night, producing a fifth-inning triple that MLB.com said carried a.016 expected batting average before later adding an RBI double. It was the kind of impact performance that can swing a playoff game, even if the contact did not look like much at first glance.
The Braves score today story was built on Harris turning unlikely contact into real damage. In the fifth inning, he tripled on an 86 mph sweeper with a 92.3 mph exit velocity and a 23-degree launch angle, then scored on Kris Bubic’s wild pitch as Atlanta moved into a 2-1 lead.
Why the triple stood out
The expected batting average of.016 meant the ball had just a 1.6% hit likelihood based on comparable contact. That does not mean a triple was expected; it simply shows how rarely that type of batted ball turns into a hit at all. Harris still found the gap and turned a low-probability swing into a major postseason boost for Atlanta.
That is the sort of play that can define a tight game. Atlanta did not need perfect contact from Harris, only productive contact, and he delivered exactly that when the pressure was building.
More than one big swing
Harris was not finished. In the seventh inning, he added an RBI double that brought Matt Olson home, extending Atlanta’s advantage and giving the Braves another cushion to work with.
The game still had late drama. Max Muncy homered in the ninth inning before Atlanta secured the final out, but Harris’s earlier work had already set the tone and helped put the Braves in position to finish the job.
For Atlanta, the takeaway is simple: Harris was central to the result. He created the first spark, helped deliver the lead, and then added insurance in the middle innings, making his mark on a playoff night when the Braves needed it most.
