Kyle Harrison's worst start of the season came Monday night in the first MLB game in Las Vegas since 1996, and it spiraled fast as he allowed eight earned runs in 2 1/3 innings. The Milwaukee Brewers still won 15-14 in 12 innings, but Harrison's line turned a high-scoring game into the season's sharpest setback for him.
Kyle Harrison In Las Vegas
The left-hander entered with a 1.57 ERA and only 10 runs allowed on the season, then gave up three home runs and struck out four batters against the Athletics. By the time he exited, his ERA had climbed to 2.72 in Las Vegas.
That outing came in a game played at Las Vegas Ballpark, home of the Athletics' Triple-A affiliate, the Las Vegas Aviators. The Athletics are using the park for a six-game homestand while their new Las Vegas ballpark is not yet open, which put a big-league game in a setting built for a different level of play.
Brewers And Athletics Trade Runs
The scoreboard kept moving after Harrison left. The Brewers and Athletics combined for 11 home runs, and the game went to the 12th inning before Milwaukee finally came out ahead 15-14.
For Harrison, the problem was not command in the most basic sense — he still struck out four — but the damage came in bursts, and the home runs flipped the game before the Brewers could settle it. The Boston Red Sox traded him to Milwaukee in the offseason, and this was the kind of start that can erase a strong run of numbers in one night.
Brewers Leave With The Win
Milwaukee got the result it needed, but the box score made Harrison the story. In a game that produced 29 total runs and stretched to 12 innings, his eight-run line stood out as the clearest difference between surviving and getting buried.
He walked in with a season ERA that suggested control. He left with a 2.72 mark after the Brewers-Athletics shootout, and that is the number that now follows a pitcher who had spent most of the year keeping runs off the board.
