MILWAUKEE -- The Brewers had not one but two starting pitchers heading for further examination of potential knee injuries after Saturday’s 3-1 loss to the Nationals at American Family Field.
Left-hander Kyle Harrison, who made the start, and right-hander Brandon Sproat, a starter temporarily working out of the bullpen, were both able to continue pitching in the game. That was the good news for a team already missing one starter in right-hander Quinn Priester, who is recovering from thoracic outlet syndrome.
“Both of these young pitchers, I thought, pitched well enough to win if our offense was getting it going,” manager Pat Murphy said.
Harrison was hurt when first baseman Gary Sánchez muffed a bouncer from the very first batter of the game, James Wood. When Sánchez recovered, he tried to throw a fastball at Harrison as the lefty covered first base, but it hit Harrison in the left kneecap.
For a few tense minutes, Harrison himself didn’t think he would be able to continue. Initially, he needed to put one arm around Sánchez and another around head athletic trainer Brad Epstein just to stand. But eventually, he recovered and was able to pitch into the fifth inning.
“I had kind of a dead knee thing. The ball got me straight on,” Harrison said. “I just needed some time out there to feel myself again. I was able to keep it warm and keep it loose. I was just really focused on competing at that point.”
Harrison had X-rays at the ballpark, but the Brewers wanted more in-depth testing to rule out injury. He was charged with two earned runs on four hits and threw 76 pitches in 4 1/3 innings.
“I’m not too worried about it, honestly,” Harrison said. “If I’m able to pitch four innings on it, I should be fine. I definitely was shocked. It’s not the best time at the start of the game, and have to pitch through that.”
Sproat’s scare happened in the seventh when Nationals second baseman Nasim Nuñez hit a bouncer to the right side of the infield. Sproat dove for it and landed hard. He was visited by another member of the athletic training staff, Lee Meyer, but stayed in the game, then was visited again after picking off Nuñez at second base. Again, Sproat stayed in.
He wound up covering 3 2/3 innings and was charged with one earned run on four hits. It’s not known when he was scheduled to start again, but Murphy made it clear that Sproat would remain in the rotation.
Now, he’ll first have to check out medically.
“Stay tuned on that,” Murphy said.