Catch of the year? Harris pulls off jaw-dropping HR robbery

PHILADELPHIA -- Max Fried put his head down as soon as he saw his curveball fly off Austin Hays’ bat. But he looked back up in time to see Michael Harris II make what both the Braves and Phillies viewed as one of the best catches they’ve ever seen.

“The Harris catch is one of the best catches you will ever see in this game,” Philadelphia manager Rob Thomson said. “It was just tremendous. I couldn't believe he came up with it.”

There wasn’t much for the Braves to enjoy as they further damaged their division title hopes with a 3-0 loss to the Phillies on Saturday night at Citizens Bank Park. But they will forever remember Harris’ incredible grab.

“You probably saw the catch of the year right there,” Atlanta manager Brian Snitker said. “That’s what I told [Harris]. I said, ‘We’ll be watching that one for the next 24 hours.’”

Harris’ seventh-inning thievery of what would have been a Hays home run will certainly be easy to find the next couple of days. It was the kind of catch the 23-year-old suburban Atlanta native has always dreamed of making.

“I’ve had some the past couple of years that I wanted to bring back and couldn’t,” Harris said. “So it was good to make that one and [move it] to the top of my board.”

Fried had already surrendered solo homers to Edmundo Sosa (second inning) and Trea Turner (sixth inning). It looked like he might have allowed a third when Hays reached across the plate and drove an outside curveball.

“To that part of the park, I wasn’t sure if it was going to hold up, but it just kept going,” Fried said. “Once I saw [Harris] start to slow down, I was like, ‘Is he going to go to the track?’ Eventually, I saw him jump. As soon as he jumped, I immediately thought homer.”

When the ball was hit, Harris turned to his left and started pacing his steps toward the short wall in front of the Phillies’ bullpen in right-center. The left-handed outfielder vaulted in front of the wall and caught the ball just before momentum left the upper part of his body dangling over the top of the fence for a split second.

“It’s like one of those feelings when you’re hitting and you don’t feel it off the bat,” Harris said. “It hit perfectly in the web.”

As Harris pushed himself off the wall, he raised his glove hand to reveal he had made the catch. He flipped the ball to his left hand and showed a look of disbelief.

“When I was coming back from the bench, I saw the Phillies' [relievers] in awe,” Harris said. “That’s when I really knew I caught it.”

Hays raised his arm in disbelief as he neared second base and realized he had been robbed.

“I didn’t see [Hays’ reaction], because I was running back in. I don’t really know what I was doing,” Harris said with a laugh. “But I saw the video, and I saw him doing that and kind of smiling at me. But yeah, I was surprised it went that far, and I was surprised I caught it.”

Harris’ catch also awed Fried, who allowed three runs on five hits and four walks over seven innings. Braves starting pitchers have allowed three runs or fewer in 20 straight games. Per Elias, this extends their longest single-season streak since the mound was moved to its current distance in 1893.

“The first thing I did was tip my hat because that was a very special play,” Fried said. “The way he slowed down to time it, and then to do all of that in one motion, it’s special. He’s incredible out there. It’s probably the best catch that I’ve ever had behind me.”

With losses in two of the first three games of this four-game series, the Braves have fallen six games behind the first-place Phillies in the National League East. They were hoping this would be the weekend they would make a seventh straight division title a legit hope again.

Instead, it looks like this weekend will be best remembered for what Harris did.

“That’s not something you work on,” Snitker said. “You don’t teach that. It’s just a God-given ability.”