Day-to-day with tight hamstring, Inciarte has already opened eyes with Braves

ATLANTA -- Ender Inciarte pulled up as he headed down the first base line, and once he ran past the bag, turned toward the Braves dugout. Something was wrong.

He left Friday's series opener against the Cardinals with left hamstring tightness, saying after the 7-4 loss that he stopped before it popped. Inciarte is listed as day-to-day -- and his absence only underscores just how electric he's been for Atlanta's defense.

"He's relentless and usually the good ones are relentless about going after the ball and making the play," manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "(Jason) Heyward had that trait here, not scared of anything. He has that trait in him. His arm is accurate and good and strong."

Gonzalez watched Inciarte break toward the offering from the Nationals' Ryan Zimmerman, the ball seemingly headed toward the gap in right-center field.

"I'm thinking 'No chance,'" the Braves manager said before Friday's game.

But the center fielder, at a full sprint, dove and made the catch -- and he wasn't done. He popped up and fired to first base, doubling up Bryce Harper, who couldn't get back in time. The Superman theme blared through Turner Field, and in his second game with Atlanta, the 25-year-old Venezuelan was feted with a standing ovation.

"That ball was going away form me. I just kept going and kept going, and even at the end, that ball got in the lights and I was able to catch it, and also to make the double play," Inciarte said. "When I'm in the outfield, I'm just trying to hit everything that's hit at me and hopefully I'm going to be able to every time they hit a line drive or fly ball to me."

Acquired from the Diamondbacks -- along with prospects Aaron Blair and Dansby Swanson -- during the MLB Winter Meetings in December in the deal that cost Atlanta Shelby Miller, Inciarte was looking to make a splash. He had been discussing with catcher Tyler Flowers, a fellow newcomer, about that exact kind of play he delivered in Wednesday's 3-1 loss to Washington.

"That's one of the fun moments in baseball that I really like, when you can save a run, steal a hit," Inciarte said. "It's a really good feeling. Being able to do it early on in the season, it feels good and the fans like it."

Thrown out at first before leaving Friday's game, Inciarte had two hits in his his previous seven at-bats and now stands at .250 with two walks out of the leadoff spot. While he brings a spark plug to the offense that is a career .292/.330/.386 hitter -- including .303/.338/.408 last season in Arizona -- Inciarte's defense is where he provides his biggest value, especially with the Braves having nearly as many errors (three) as they had RBI (four) in their opening series.

With 49 runs saved the past two seasons, Inciarte trails only the Rays' Kevin Kiermaier (56) and Heyward (50) -- both Gold Glove winners -- in that span. Atlanta has had a finalist in each of the past five seasons, and Inciarte would seem to be the odds-on favorite to make it six.

Especially now that he's found a defensive home.

He wasn't going to be the Diamondbacks' every day center fielder with A.J. Pollock (though with the All-Star suffering a fractured elbow in spring training it's a certainty he'd be there now), and played 73 games in right, 44 in left and 21 in center in 2015. But in Atlanta, he can play the position where he can highlight his speed.

"I want to own that position and earn the right to be in that position," Inciarte said. "It's not only like 'Hey, you're going to be the center fielder and that's it.' I've got to earn it by making plays like that, by being offensively consistent and hopefully I'm going to be able to do it."

Having Inciarte has created a bit of a luxury for the Braves by giving them some impressive organizational depth in center. Mallex Smith, their Minor League Player of the Year, plays the same position, but with Inciarte they are able to take their time with the 22-year-old.

"Now you don't hurry on Mallex Smith," Gonzalez said. "He becomes a guy that you're like 'OK, we can take our time developing you and let you play the game and become a finished product before you run him up here.' ... Having Inciarte here it makes that situation where (Smith) can develop himself into a good major leaguer when he comes up here."

Inciarte's health could certainly play a factor, though the Braves have a fallback option in Drew Stubbs, who replaced the center fielder after he exited Friday.

Follow Cory McCartney on Twitter @coryjmccartney and Facebook. His book, 'Tales from the Atlanta Braves Dugout: A Collection of the Greatest Braves Stories Ever Told,' comes out April 12, 2016., and 'The Heisman Trophy: The Story of an American Icon and Its Winners' will be released Nov. 1, 2016.