PITTSBURGH -- Kyle Harrison might be running out of chances to pitch his way back into the Brewers’ postseason plans, but he’s not ready to concede defeat.
“I’m not going to give in, not going to give up,” said the 25-year-old left-hander. “I’m going to keep working and fighting.”
Harrison will pitch again in the Brewers’ remaining nine games of the regular season, said manager Pat Murphy, though the role remains to be determined after Harrison’s latest outing unraveled in the second inning of Thursday’s 7-4 loss to the Pirates at PNC Park. His role in October, if any, remains one of the club’s key decisions in the coming weeks, especially in the event the Brewers advance to the best-of-seven rounds when starting pitching depth is at a premium.
What’s certain is that Harrison’s recent results won’t cut it. He has a 21.00 ERA (nine innings, 21 earned runs) over his last four outings, including a relief appearance against the Reds that the Brewers hoped would help get him on track, and a start against a Pirates team he’s handled in the past. Neither strategy produced the intended bounce. Harrison surrendered four runs to the Reds without getting an out, then five more runs (four earned) in 1 2/3 innings against the Pirates on Thursday after a two-out walk in the second inning started a spiral.
That walk, to Pirates right fielder Ronny Simon, started a stretch in which seven consecutive hitters reached safely, erasing the Brewers’ 1-0 lead and knocking Harrison out of the game.
Like so many of his recent outings, there was some bad luck involved. It went like this:
- Walk
- Infield single
- Catcher’s interference
- Two-run double on a 1-2 fastball
- Two-run single on a 2-2 fastball
- Hit by pitch on a changeup that hit Bryan Reynolds’ foot
- Walk after a 1-2 count
- Hit by pitch, RBI on a slurve that grazed Brandon Lowe’s hand
Chad Patrick took over at that point and stranded the bases loaded to spare further damage to Harrison’s ERA.
“His delivery has to be impeccable, and his mental state has to be improving, because when you go through a stretch like this, it’s very tough to get yourself together,” Murphy said. “It’s like a hitter who’s 0-for-30, right?”
For Harrison, acquired in a six-player trade with the Red Sox just as Spring Training was getting underway, this slump came on quickly. Just three months ago, the Brewers were billing both Jacob Misiorowski and Harrison as serious candidates for the National League All-Star team. Harrison finished May with a 1.57 ERA, besting 2008 CC Sabathia for the lowest ERA for a left-handed pitcher through his first 10 starts with the Brewers. An eight-run outing on June 8 against the A’s in Las Vegas was shrugged off as a blip because of the extreme hitter-friendly conditions. Toss that outing aside, and Harrison’s ERA by the end of June would have been a sparkling 1.93.
But then came some signs of trouble. He spent most of July on the injured list with a left forearm injury, then got through the bulk of August with diminished velocity before hitting a wall in a nine-run dud against the Cubs at Wrigley Field on Aug. 31.
Breaking his season into two halves paints a stark picture:
March-June
2.57 ERA
1.04 WHIP
.213 opponent AVG
.622 opponent OPS
31.1% strikeout rate
33.7% hard hit rate
July-September
7.90 ERA
2.01 WHIP
.344 opponent AVG
1.033 opponent OPS
22.2% strikeout rate
44.5% hard hit rate
“Think about what he’s going through,” Murphy said. “He comes out and has the best first however many starts of his career. He’s rolling. … Now, it seems like every time he goes out, something not so great happens. And it hasn’t always been hard contact.”
Now what?
“We’re trying like heck to figure out where we need to go, adjustment-wise,” Murphy said.
Recent radar gun readings have been encouraging. Harrison’s average four-seam fastball against the Pirates was 95.3 mph, 0.6 mph north of his season average. But the pitch properties are not the same. The best measure of that is Induced Vertical Break, or what pitchers call “vert,” the amount of movement generated from how a hurler spins the baseball. Harrison averaged 13 inches of vert against the Pirates, two inches below his season average.
“The heater hasn’t been as ‘poppy,’” Harrison said. “I’m feeling good, but I need to dial that thing in.”
It’s testing his resolve; there’s no doubt about it.
“I’ll be straight up: It’s just been tough,” Harrison said. “It’s the first time I’ve really gone through this, consecutive starts not going my way. But looking at the routine and the work, it’s not going to change. I’m going to keep putting in the work and keep fighting. That’s all you can do, right?”
Said Murphy: “We’re not giving up hope that he’s going to be really effective for us soon.”