Harris answers the kids: Braves take Williamsport 4-2, then the Dodgers

The 12-year-olds told Michael Harris II to hit a home run. He said he let them down every at-bat until the ninth. Then he dumped an 0-2 Aaron Ashby slider into the right-field seats at Bowman Field, and the Braves left Williamsport with a 4-2 win.

That was the first Little League Classic homer in franchise history, Harris’s 21st of the year, and Atlanta’s second win in seven games. They are 76-55. First place still has their name on it. It just needed a night that did not look like Milwaukee.

Mahle did the deadline job

Tyler Mahle (5-10) went five innings, one run, six hits, four strikeouts, two walks. Walt Weiss called him a shot in the arm — strike-thrower, sequences, the unsexy version of what Atlanta actually bought on July 31. Field Level Media has him at a 1.52 ERA in four starts since the Giants deal. Sunday was the version of that bet that holds a first-place lineup to one run on a national stage.

Didier Fuentes got the sixth-inning double play after Matt Olson’s throwing error put two on. Dylan Lee gave the eighth back — Christian Yelich doubled, Luis Lara tripled, 3-2. Raisel Iglesias came in for four outs. Gary Sánchez popped up with the tying run at third. Then the ninth got loud.

Harris, then a Little League ending

Mauricio Dubón’s ground-rule double in the second scored the first run. Sean Murphy’s infield single in the fourth put Atlanta back up 2-1 after Jake Bauers had tied it. Andrew Vaughn bobbled Harris’s grounder in the sixth and Dubón scored the third. Then Harris did the thing the kids asked for.

Iglesias’s 27th save was a 1-6-3. Jackson Chourio singled. Brice Turang walked. William Contreras flew to the track. Bauers checked his swing, the ball found Iglesias, Dubón turned two, Milwaukee challenged, and the kids got the ending Little League coaches actually preach. Milwaukee is 81-50. The series is 2-1 Brewers. The trip is not a sweep.

Shane Drohan (6-5) took the loss: five innings, two runs, eight hits. Garrett Mitchell left in the fourth after a 94 mph Mahle fastball found his forearm on a bunt. Lara replaced him and later tripled. That is Milwaukee’s problem. Atlanta’s was simpler: they had scored 10 runs in the six games before this one and had not homered since Drake Baldwin in Minnesota.

Tuesday is not cute

Off Monday. Dodgers at Truist starting Tuesday. Bryce Elder (8-7, 3.92) against Tyler Glasnow (3-0, 2.72), per ESPN. Los Angeles is the club that actually bought the ace Atlanta passed on. A 4-2 win in kids’ cleats does not change that math. It does stop the bleeding long enough to find out if this lineup can score when the ballpark is not 2,300 seats and every at-bat has a dugout full of 12-year-olds.

Weiss said the event is a reminder of why they started playing. Fair. The standings reminder is that 76-55 still has to host the Dodgers after a 2-5 week.

Bird Gang bottom line

Harris went deep, Mahle ate five, Iglesias turned two. Take that and go home. The cute part ended in Pennsylvania. The real series starts Tuesday, and first place only feels safe if the bats remember how they got there.

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