Braves 3, Dodgers 2: Harris, Fuentes, and a Split in Los Angeles

Harris tripled. A wild pitch scored him. Atlanta had the split it came for.

October 4, 2026 - Los Angeles - Michael Harris II tripled with two outs in the fifth. Kris Bubic's wild pitch scored him. Harris doubled Matt Olson home in the seventh. Max Muncy homered with two outs in the ninth, and it still was not enough. The Atlanta Braves beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2 in National League Division Series Game 2 and evened the series 1-1.

Partly cloudy. 95 degrees. Wind 4 mph, varying. First pitch 5:03 p.m. PT. Attendance 50,729. The game lasted 3 hours, 18 minutes. ESPN's recap said Harris also singled in the third and came a home run short of the cycle. Walt Weiss told ESPN getting the split in this place against these guys was awesome.

Game 1 was three Dodgers homers in 100-degree heat. Game 2 was a bullpen night on both sides after Blake Snell lasted 3 2/3, his shortest postseason start since 2022 with San Diego, per ESPN.

Kerr opened. Fuentes stayed. Iglesias finished the last out.

Ray Kerr opened for the second time in four days. He threw 2 2/3 scoreless: two hits, one walk, four strikeouts, 42 pitches. Miguel Rojas doubled to lead off the third. Kerr pitched around Mookie Betts and got Shohei Ohtani to pop out. That ended his night. He told MLB.com it was just another Sunday, the same line he used after Thursday's Wild Card outing against the Phillies.

Grant Holmes lasted five batters. Freddie Freeman led off the fourth with a homer to right, his first of this postseason. 1-1. Holmes left with one out and two on. Dylan Lee cleaned up the fourth and got the win, 2-0. Robert Suarez inherited a two-on, none-out fifth after Betts walked (a challenge overturned the pitch result) and Ohtani singled. Suarez retired Will Smith, Freeman, and Teoscar Hernández. Three outs. Hold. MLB.com said it was his fourth appearance since his right elbow started bothering him in late June.

Weiss planned to split the last 12 outs between Didier Fuentes and Raisel Iglesias. Fuentes took 11 of them. He threw 3 2/3: one hit, one earned, no walks, three strikeouts, 47 pitches, a hold. His four-seam fastball averaged 99.4 mph, up from 97.3 in the regular season, the MLB recap said. He is 21. Kerr called him amazing, especially throwing 100. Olson told MLB.com he could not believe Fuentes came back out for the ninth and was still chucking 100.

Muncy's two-strike, two-out homer to right-center made it 3-2. Iglesias retired pinch-hitter Josue De Paula on a foul pop to third. Save number 2. Three pitches.

"After his third inning, I looked at our pitching coach, let's see how he feels," Weiss said, per MLB.com. "If he feels good enough, I want to send him back out. I didn't want to mess with a good thing."

Snell walked five. Los Angeles stranded seven early.

Snell threw 3 2/3: three hits, one earned, five walks, five strikeouts, 90 pitches. Atlanta scored in the first without extra-base damage. Drake Baldwin grounded out. Ronald Acuña Jr. singled. Olson walked. Ozzie Albies walked, Acuña to third. Harris popped out. Mauricio Dubón singled to shortstop. 1-0 Braves. Sean Murphy struck out with the bases loaded. That was the whole first inning: traffic, one run, and a leftover that never scored.

Los Angeles stranded seven through five, ESPN said. After Betts and Ohtani reached to open the fifth, Atlanta's bullpen retired the next 14 Dodgers. Ohtani went 1-for-4 with two strikeouts. Dave Roberts told ESPN there was a lot of chase. It is hard to square up pitches out of the zone.

Edgardo Henriquez allowed Harris's RBI double in the seventh. 3-1. Edwin Díaz threw a clean eighth: no hits, two strikeouts. Roki Sasaki had already given Los Angeles two scoreless innings after Snell. Evan Phillips and Brock Stewart recorded outs. The Dodgers still needed more than Freeman's homer and Muncy's ninth. They got two runs. They left seven men on. They went 0-for-the-late-traffic that decided Game 1.

Harris finished 3-for-5: a single, a triple, a double, a run, an RBI. The ninth-inning groundout was the missing homer. Weiss told ESPN there is no blueprint in October and there always seem to be unsung heroes. Harris was not unsung on Sunday. Fuentes was the other name.

Sale at Truist. The series is 1-1.

Weiss sat Chris Sale to give him two extra days after a Wild Card start and a Game 3 relief outing. The MLB recap said Atlanta now heads home with Sale lined up for Game 3 and Tyler Mahle for Game 4. Teams that split on the road in the current 2-2-1 Division Series format have won the series 30 of 49 times (61%), that recap noted.

"Yesterday, we talked about our 'pen not at full strength and not being in position to chase a game from behind," Weiss said, per MLB.com. "I think losing the way we did yesterday allowed us to do what we did tonight and gain the split."

Roberts told ESPN Atlanta will use any pitcher and chase every matchup. Sunday that plan lasted 27 outs. One of them was a Muncy homer. The last one was a pop to Riley. The series moves to Truist Park tied.

AthX Engine after the baseball

AthX Engine (our projection and scoring system) put Atlanta at 7 team fantasy points on a 3-2. Fuentes had 12.66 pitching FP. Harris had 8 hitting FP. Los Angeles sat at 0. Those numbers are the split: a win, three runs, two against, a 21-year-old who covered 3 2/3, and a center fielder who missed a cycle by a homer.

Fantasy points measure the night under platform scoring rules. Share prices also move with traders through dynamic pricing. They are related. They are not the same number.

Marketplace

*Sources: MLB.com schedule; MLB Gameday wrap; ESPN scoreboard; ESPN box score; ESPN recap; AthX Engine scoring applied to verified box stats. Information only; not financial advice.*