The Atlanta Braves will be without another starting outfielder when they host the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday in the second contest of a three-game series.
The Braves, already playing without right fielder Ronald Acuna Jr. (left ACL surgery), lost center fielder Michael Harris II to a left hamstring injury on Friday.
Harris was going from first to third when he got hurt, and he immediately left the game. He will undergo an MRI exam on Saturday, and manager Brian Snitker expects Harris to land on the injured list.
“He said he felt something, which is never a good thing,” Snitker said. “I hate it for him because he was starting to swing the bat.”
A first-inning single on Friday gave Harris a five-game hitting streak.
Atlanta replaced Harris with J.P. Martinez, who went 1-for-4. The injury left the Braves with only Brian Anderson, primarily a third baseman, as a spare outfielder. Designated hitter Marcell Ozuna has yet to play in the field this year.
The Braves likely will recall either Forrest Wall or Eli White from Triple-A Gwinnett. Wall opened the season with Atlanta but was sent down so he could play every day.
“Somebody is going to get an opportunity,” Snitker said. “Just not sure who that’s going to be.”
The Braves won the series opener 7-3 on Friday, Atlanta’s second straight victory following a five-game skid. The Rays took their sixth loss in eight games.
The pitching matchup for Saturday features two right-handers, Atlanta’s Charlie Morton (3-3, 4.12 ERA) and Tampa Bay’s Ryan Pepiot (4-3, 4.17).
Morton is searching for his first win since May 10. He took the loss on Saturday at Washington after pitching five innings and allowing five runs, four earned, on seven hits and no walks with three strikeouts.
“Any time you give up that many hits, that many baserunners and throw that many pitches in the first inning, in any inning, it’s just a battle from then,” Morton said. “Physically, it’s a grind because you’re used to going 10 to 20 pitches an inning, then you throw 30-something pitches in an inning, from then you’re not as sharp and your stuff isn’t as crisp, location isn’t as good, it’s a battle.”
Morton has made seven career starts against the Rays, going 3-3 with a 3.14 ERA. He faced Tampa Bay once in 2023 and came away with a victory after giving up one run over 6 1/3 innings.
Pepiot took the loss in his Monday start against the Baltimore Orioles when he worked six innings and allowed four runs on a career-high nine hits with no walks and nine strikeouts. He became the seventh pitcher in franchise history to post eight or more strikeouts in consecutive starts without allowing a walk.
Pepiot has never pitched against the Braves.
The Rays removed second baseman Jose Caballero in the third inning on Friday after he looked sluggish following a walk in the second.
“He’s been sick for a while,” Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said. “After the second or third inning, he was just really run down, like super-dehydrated, so we got him checked out by a doctor and actually got him out of here and back at the hotel.”
Richie Palacios replaced Caballero and had two hits and two RBIs.
Tampa Bay’s Yandy Diaz had a single on Friday, extending his streak of reaching base to a season-high 17 games.
–Field Level Media