CHICAGO – After becoming the eighth pitcher in Brewers history to surrender five or more home runs in an outing in Monday’s 17-3 loss at Wrigley Field, Kyle Harrison had a hunch the Cubs knew what was coming.
The Brewers didn’t envision having first baseman Andrew Vaughn pitching mop-up duty at the start of a stretch of seven games over 10 days against the only team with a chance to block Milwaukee’s path to a fourth consecutive NL Central title. But such was life on a night the Cubs got three home runs from Alex Bregman and hit nine home runs in all – one shy of the modern Major League record – while trimming the Brewers’ lead in the division to seven games with 24 to play.
It’s a steep hill to climb for the Cubs. But the Brewers don’t want to let them get any ideas.
“I respect the heck out of them,” Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy said. “I see a team with aptitude. I see a team that plays defense. I see a team that understands how to base run when it’s appropriate. And, I mean, they’ve got an explosive offense."
About that -- Even before they started teeing off on Monday night, the Cubs were the toughest out in baseball for a left-handed pitcher, ranking first in wRC+ (126), wOBA (.353), OPS (.807) and slugging percentage (.453). But Harrison had tamed them before. He held the Cubs to two runs on five hits over 12 innings in two previous outings this season.
Monday was a different kind of outcome. Harrison’s four-seam fastball has not had the same zip since a stint on the injured list for forearm tightness in July, and with two outs in the first inning, former Brewers outfielder Tyrone Taylor hit that pitch for a two-run shot, his first home run for the Cubs. Nico Hoerner made it back-to-back homers by hitting another fastball on the way to a 4-0 lead.
And the Cubs kept hitting fastballs. Bregman made it 6-0 with a two-out, two-run shot in the second and Seiya Suzuki and Bregman hit another pair of back-to-back home runs in the fourth. Only Bregman’s second home run came off a non-fastball. He hit a slurve.
“He has had a good season, but we made him uncomfortable immediately,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “And I think he was uncomfortable, basically, the whole night."
Harrison has a feeling there was something to it. Judging by the Cubs' swings, he and the Brewers were convinced that the Cubs knew what was coming, and Harrison planned to work with bullpen coach Charlie Greene and pitching coach Chris Hook in the coming days to clean that up.
“Part of it’s on me. I can’t be giving away pitches in the first inning,” said Harrison, who was saddled with nine earned runs on 10 hits, with two walks and three strikeouts. “When you know what’s coming, it’s a little bit easier to hit, I think. It’s on me during the week. I knew these guys were looking for any kind of edge that they can get. They got a little bit of edge on me in the first inning.”
On top of that problem was the extreme humidity, which made gripping the baseball exceptionally difficult. Eagle-eyed fans may have noticed that Cubs starter Clay Holmes wore long sleeves under his uniform from the start of the game to soak up sweat. Harrison pitched the first inning in short sleeves, then hustled to put on a long-sleeved undershirt between innings, by which time the Brewers were already in a hole.
Then there’s the velocity issue. Harrison’s four-seamer averaged 93.4 mph, down 1.4 mph from his season average. It’s been an issue for weeks.
“Obviously, if it was 96 [mph] like it was earlier in the season, it’s probably not the same results,” Murphy said. “But that’s what we’re going with right now.”
“I’m not giving up on the velo,” Harrison said. “I think it will be there. I’m feeling great physically.”
He became the first Milwaukee pitcher to allow five home runs in an outing since Nestor Cortes in his inauspicious Brewers debut at Yankee Stadium last season. Only one pitcher in franchise history has allowed more homers: Michael Blazek served up six in a spot start at Washington in July 2017.
And as the Cubs’ runs piled up, Harrison kept pitching. The Brewers placed their top option for long relief, Bryse Wilson, on the injured list hours earlier with a low back strain, so Harrison remained on the mound for 98 pitches and 11 outs, marking the fourth time in franchise history that a pitcher threw as many pitches in fewer than four innings.
The last Brewers pitcher to “wear it” to that extent was Matt Kinney, who threw 103 pitches in 3 2/3 innings on June 17, 2003, against the Cardinals.
“When you’re using a six-man rotation because of all of the young pitchers, and you only have seven in the ‘pen, and you’re on a 16-game stretch [without an off-day], that’s what it is,” Murphy said. “You have games like today. Would it have mattered if it was 10-2 or 17-3? That’s not the difference.
“We’re not playing for run differential, we’re playing to try to win as many games as we can.”