Braves' historic double play caps Game 2 comeback win

ATLANTA -- A historic and improbable double play sparked by Michael Harris II capped the Braves' dramatic comeback to win Game 2 of the NLDS and even the series with the Phillies.

Having rallied from a four-run deficit, the Braves were clinging to a 5-4 lead in the ninth inning with Bryce Harper on first base and Nick Castellanos up to bat with one out. Castellanos hit a flyball to deep right-center field that would've been a home run in five MLB parks and that StatCast gave a .610 expected batting average.

Harris read it quickly, telling reporters after the game, "I knew off the bat it was going to be close to the fence, so I knew once I went back, I wasn't stopping. I was going to do anything I could to get a glove on it."

Harris leaped to catch it, hitting the outfield wall, then immediately set his feet to relay the ball back to the infield, toward second base. As Harris caught the ball, Harper was about five steps past second base.

"Usually you don't pass the base," Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. "You stay in front of it, make sure it's not caught. But he thought the ball was clearly over his head, didn't think he was going to catch it. And Harris made a heck of a play. Unbelievable. He tried to get back, and he slipped, but usually you stay in front of the second base."

Second baseman Ozzie Albies whiffed trying to scoop Harris' throw, but third baseman Austin Riley was standing between second base and the mound backing up Albies. That wasn't by design.

"I think the only reason I was in the position that I was because I was screaming one and just momentum just kept pulling me that way," Riley said. "And it ended up just being right spot at the right time."

Riley scooped the ball backhand and threw it to first in one motion, like fielding a slow roller at third base. That ended the game, completing the first 8-5-3 double play in MLB history at any point of a playoff game and also the first double play ever involving an outfielder to end a postseason game.

Harris said after the game he didn't know where Harper was, which is why he threw the ball toward second base.

"We just saw a slomo here [in the clubhouse]. I didn't know that he went past second, so I threw it in...I guess Riley was right there in the right spot to make the throw, made an incredible throw."

The Phillies were up 4-0 in the 6th inning and it was 4-1 in the seventh when Braves catcher Travis d'Arnaud hit a two-run homer off of former Mets battery mate Zack Wheeler to make it 4-3. That ended Wheeler's night that was otherwise excellent, striking out 10 and walking one, allowing just three hits.

"We were trying to stay as positive as possible in that dugout," Riley said of the Braves' mentality leading up to the home run. "Everybody was saying we just gotta keep going, gotta keep going. [Wheeler] had an unbelievable night. He was very dominant. ...Once we got that crowd back in it, good things happen"

Riley struck the final blow with a go-ahead homer off of Jeff Hoffman.

"I was just trying to put a barrel on the ball. That's all it was. It's definitely up there with my top [homers]."

The series heads to Philadelphia for Games 3 and 4. The Phillies will start Aaron Nola on Wednesday and Braves manager Brian Snitker said he'll likely reveal the Braves' Game 3 starter on Tuesday.