Despite success behind Acuña, Harris ready to return to 9-hole

SAN FRANCISCO -- The vast majority of Major League hitters might seriously think about surrendering a kidney if they could regularly bat behind Ronald Acuña Jr. and ahead of Austin Riley and Matt Olson, a luxury that Braves center fielder Michael Harris II has enjoyed for eight games with regular No. 2 hitter Ozzie Albies on the injured list.

With Albies expected to return from his hamstring strain next week, Harris will return to hitting ninth. He won’t be kicking and screaming either.

“The nine-hole has my heart,” Harris said after he and starter Spencer Strider co-starred in Atlanta’s 5-1 victory against the Giants in the opener of a 10-game trip.

Harris hit his 13th homer on the game’s third pitch, off Giants Opening Day starter Logan Webb, singled twice, stole his 18th and 19th bases and scored three runs, one after tagging up on a relatively shallow pop foul that third baseman J.D. Davis caught with his back to the plate.

Strider dominated the Giants for the second time in eight nights for his 15th win, most in the Majors. He extended his scoreless streak to 20 innings, at the time the longest active streak in the National League, before surrendering a run in the seventh. In 14 innings against San Francisco over his last two starts, Strider allowed four hits and one run while striking out 19.

Harris batted mostly ninth last year in winning NL Rookie of the Year. He reacted modestly when asked why he is eager to return to the bottom of the lineup when Albies returns.

“This team is fun and this lineup is pretty dangerous,” he said. “I feel like I can just hide down there in the nine spot and do my little damage and not be really seen down there because everybody ahead of me is doing phenomenal and has crazy numbers as well. I feel I can hide down there and get some more hittable pitches.”

Harris’ poise while hitting in Albies’ spot has impressed Braves manager Brian Snitker, saying, “Those are big shoes to fill” and adding that Harris will slip into those shoes before too long.

“He’s not going to be a nine-hole hitter his whole life. That’s for sure,” Snitker said. “He’s going to be a middle-order bat where you want him driving runs in.”

Harris’ first-inning homer staked Strider to a 1-0 lead. His leadoff single in the fourth and steal of second set the table for Matt Olson and Marcell Ozuna, who drove in runs on successive pitches. Olson doubled into the right-center gap and Ozuna poked a single to right.

Harris’ third hit, a sixth-inning single, cashed in Acuña’s leadoff triple. Harris stole his second base and advanced to third on a Riley groundout before scoring easily on Olson’s pop-foul sacrifice fly.

This was not the first time Harris has excelled in a Strider start this year, a point the pair discussed before Friday’s game.

“He needs to start giving me some of his pay every five days because something about me pitching is helping him play,” Strider said.

Strider might have to forward some of that dough to Acuña, whose marathon run and leaping catch of a Thairo Estrada drive into the right-center gap in the third inning saved two runs and kept the right-hander’s scoreless streak alive for another inning.

“I guess we’ll just put it in a pot and divvy it up at the end of the year,” said Strider, who passed teammate Charlie Morton (18 innings) for the league’s longest current scoreless streak before it was snapped.

Strider excelled while facing the same Giants team he beat a week earlier. Back-to-back starts usually favor opposing hitters -- if they’re facing an ordinary pitcher. Strider is proving to be very unordinary.

“I just think his fastball is special. It’s different,” Snitker said. “His stuff is just really good. When he’s got his fastball it’s just hard to get a hold on, regardless if you’ve seen it. And the slider is such a dominant pitch. His stuff is so good. That’s the reason.”