When Kyle Harrison missed out on the Giants’ final rotation spot in spring training earlier this year, the team remained confident there would be opportunities for him to start at the big league level in 2025.
With veteran pitcher Justin Verlander on the 15-day injured list, that chance came Saturday for Harrison against the Washington Nationals. The 23-year-old felt good about his outing in San Francisco’s 3-0 loss at Nationals Park, but he certainly wishes he could have one pitch back.
“Just proud of how I felt out there and how I responded,” Harrison told reporters after allowing five hits and two earned runs while striking out four in four innings against Washington. “… Just that one mistake [then] felt like I settled in a little bit. Can’t make those mistakes.”
Harrison toed the rubber for his first Giants start of the season after a mild pectoral strain sidelined Verlander earlier this week, and Saturday got off to a rocky start when the young southpaw surrendered a one-out double to Nationals third baseman Amed Rosario in the first inning followed by a James Wood homer that put San Francisco into a 2-0 hole.
“Especially early, I was really just strike-focused, attacking those guys, and ultimately that ended in me leaving a little pitches over the plate too much,” Harrison said. “After that inning, looked at the locations and just had to get off the plate a little more because they were willing to swing and chase. As soon as I tapped into that a little bit more, got a little better.”
Unfortunately for Harrison, who cruised through the next three innings and said he felt like he could have pitched the fifth, the Giants’ lineup couldn’t get anything going against Washington righty Jake Irvin. The Nationals starter allowed just three hits and struck out seven Giants over eight frames in his team’s shutout win.
The Giants recalled Harrison from Triple-A Sacramento earlier this month after he posted a 3.46 ERA and 38 strikeouts in 26 innings over six starts with the River Cats. Even after originally missing out on a roster spot this season despite his role in the Giants’ rotation last year, Harrison stayed the course and put in the work in the minor leagues, filling a bullpen role nicely for San Francisco upon his return.
Though Harrison was fully stretched in the minors, he hadn’t thrown more than 38 pitches in an appearance during his time back with San Francisco and was limited to just 57 on Saturday. He threw 43 of those for strikes, however, generating a game-high eight swings-and-misses while topping out at 96.3 mph with his four-seam fastball.
“I thought he threw good,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said of Harrison after the game. “It was just one pitch to Wood, hung a breaking ball. Other than that, [velocity] was up, he was pretty efficient, actually, for his pitch count. Got four innings in, so could move a little bit further along after that. But all in all, it just came down to one pitch.
“When you don’t score any runs, it is what it is.”
The Giants dropped to 30-22 after the loss and are 2.5 games behind the Dodgers for first place in the NL West, with Los Angeles set to face the New York Mets on Saturday afternoon. With Verlander slated to miss at least one more start, Harrison certainly will look to improve upon his first of the season his next time out.
“Felt good to have a day dedicated to me and go out there, went about my business, got to get in the routine again,” Harrison said. “Good to be back, for sure.”
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