ATLANTA — As the starting center fielder for the team with the best record in Major League Baseball right now and a former National League rookie of the year, it would be a stretch to refer to Michael Harris II as a secret weapon.
Atlanta Braves manager Walt Weiss does have a pretty good description, though, for how clutch the 25-year-old slugger has been this season.
“He’s the silver bullet over there, waiting for the right moment, and it showed up, and Mikey came through, man, with a huge hit,” Weiss said in his postgame press conference Sunday.
Harris delivered in the pinch with a three-run double in the seventh inning, and the Braves beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-2 to complete their sweep of the three-game series at Truist Park.
Despite being limited to three hits, the Braves won for the eighth time in their past 10 games and boosted their MLB-best record to 45-21. Atlanta’s lead in the NL East remained at 9 1/2 games over the second-place Philadelphia Phillies, and no other team in the division is closer than 12 games.
Atlanta had already improved to 18-2-1 in series this season (including 10-1 at home) by winning 6-3 in each of the first two games against the Pirates (34-32), but Sunday’s victory secured the Braves’ third sweep of 2026 after they also cleaned up in three-game sets on the road against the Philadelphia Phillies on April 17-19 and the Colorado Rockies on May 1-3.
“That’s a good team over there,” Weiss said of the Pirates. “So to sweep that team is pretty good.”
Harris, whose .306 batting average leads the team, exited during the ninth inning of Friday’s series opener with tightness in his back. He was held out of Saturday’s game in what Weiss said was a precautionary measure and wasn’t in the starting lineup Sunday as Mauricio Dubón again started in center.
However, Harris came up as a pinch hitter for Atlanta catcher Sandy Leon with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the seventh as the Braves trailed 2-0. The table was set when Dominic Smith led off by reaching on an infield error before Mike Yastrzemski and Jorge Mateo drew one-out walks to pack the bags and chase Pittsburgh’s Bubba Chandler off the mound.
With light rain falling, Harris looked at the first pitch from Evan Sisk before driving his second offering into the right-field corner to clear the bases.
It’s not the first time Harris has starred after coming off the bench this season, with the Atlanta-area native pinch-hitting a tiebreaking two-run homer in the ninth inning of the Braves’ 8-6 win at Colorado on May 1 — exactly one week after his pinch-hit two-run double in the sixth inning put them ahead for good in a 5-3 home win against the Phillies.
“That’s the thing about Mikey, man, he’s got a slow heartbeat,” Weiss said. “You rarely ever see him get sped up by the game mentally. He’s a tough kid mentally, and the big moments don’t scare him. … He hasn’t been a pinch hitter in his career very often, but he’s got some big ones for us this year.”
Atlanta reliever Reynaldo López (3-1) earned the win by pitching a scoreless seventh, and Tyler Kinley ended a bases-loaded threat in the eighth when he got Ryan O’Hearn to ground out to first base.
With regular closer Raisel Iglesias and other top relievers for the Braves unavailable after working in the first two games of the series, rookie Didier Fuentes stranded two runners in the ninth for the first save of his MLB career.
Pirates first baseman Spencer Horwitz led off the game with a home run, his sixth in nine career games at Truist Park. He also had an infield single and extended his on-base streak to 15 games.
The Pirates opted for a bullpen game Sunday, and Mason Montgomery served as an opener for the fourth time this season after pitching an inning in relief Saturday night. He stranded two runners in a scoreless first and has not given up a run as an opener this season.
Chandler (2-7) came on as a bulk reliever in the second inning and cruised until the seventh, when the throwing error by third baseman Tyler Callihan and his two walks on eight straight pitches loaded the bases.
Atlanta starter Bryce Elder gave up two hits and two runs in six innings, his 10th quality start in 14 outings this season. The right-hander struck out four batters and walked two in an 88-pitch outing.
The Braves are off Monday before starting a six-game road trip with three against the American League Central’s second-place Chicago White Sox (34-31). Both teams are set to start right-handers on the mound in Tuesday’s opener as Atlanta’s Grant Holmes (4-2, 3.86 ERA) opposes Chicago’s Davis Martin (8-2, 2.61).