WASHINGTON -- The Brewers needed one thing entering Saturday’s game vs. the Nationals: depth from starting pitcher Kyle Harrison.
Between Milwaukee’s finale vs. Arizona on Thursday and the series opener vs. Washington on Friday, the Crew’s bullpen had thrown 11 2/3 innings. (Of course, in doing so the relief corps had also allowed just two runs, for a 1.59 ERA over those two days.)
To say the ‘pen was taxed would be an understatement.
But Harrison, making his second start vs. the Nats this season, was anything but taxed. Despite some traffic on the bases, the 24-year-old navigated through six frames, trusting his defense en route to a 4-1 win at Nationals Park.
“He was fantastic today,” manager Pat Murphy said. “He did a great job. You can see the confidence coming out of him, so that’s a great thing for a guy with limited experience. And the way he’s throwing the ball for us, it was great. He was great, gave us six innings.”
It helped Harrison that the Crew pulled ahead, 3-0, in a busy first inning.
It did not help that the Brewers struggled to get runners past second for the six innings that followed.
But regardless of the quiet middle innings, Harrison shoved, delivering his second straight quality start, as he gave up just one run on seven hits and one walk. He struck out five over those six innings, setting the table for Grant Anderson (two-thirds of an inning), DL Hall (one out), Trevor Megill (one inning) and Abner Uribe (one inning) to lock down the win.
“Facing this team, knowing it was kind of an aggressive group, it was important for me to land my secondaries early to make sure that I could get chase later,” Harrison said.
That early focus on his secondary pitches -- his slurve, changeup and sinker -- was only a portion of what worked well for Harrison. He also increased his slurve usage, using the offering 6% more vs. the Nationals than he has as a whole this year (25% on average), the slurve making up 29 of his 93 pitches (31%).
“He started to use his offspeed stuff more effectively, and started to believe in it more,” Murphy said. “He’s just overall getting more and more situated and knowing who he has to be. He knows this is not easy, he knows there’s going to be ups and downs in this deal, but he’s really intent and really focused, and it’s been fun watching this maturation in front of us.”
That maturation process was fully on display with how Harrison navigated around eight baserunners (including five leadoff batters who reached base). He trusted in his defense, which turned a pair of double plays and dealt with the traffic with efficiency.
“It’s kind of a grind, starting out every inning with a runner on, but I felt like I managed the game pretty well,” Harrison said. “...I felt like a pitcher today, getting a runner on, being able to go to the changeup, getting a ground ball, double play, doing certain stuff like that, I feel like I’m kind of learning.”
As crucial as Harrison’s outing was, what the offense provided in that first inning was just as key, with five straight batters reaching base with two outs, taking advantage of a pair of walks and an error -- sandwiched between a pair of singles from William Contreras and Brandon Lockridge -- to take the early lead they did not relinquish. It was Lockridge’s two-run single that capped the frame.
Lockridge also had a key hit in the Crew’s one-run eighth inning, singling to load the bases with one out before Joey Ortiz’s RBI groundout gave Milwaukee some insurance.
In the end, it was simply Harrison’s day. A day to not only give the bullpen some rest but to collect his first career win vs. the Nationals in his fifth start against them.
“I did feel like I’ve been here quite a decent amount already,” Harrison said. “But no, it’s pretty cool to be able to [face them]. It’s a tough lineup, they don’t [do] a lot of chase and swing and miss, so it’s a ‘fill it up and let’s get outs’ [approach].”