ST. LOUIS – Kyle Harrison hasn’t looked at all like himself his last two starts heading into the MLB all-star break.
And now we know why.
Harrison told reporters in the wake of the Milwaukee Brewers’ 5-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium on Wednesday night, July 8, that he’s been dealing with pain on the outside of his left elbow – an extensor issue – that left him unable to properly finish off his breaking pitches.
“I’d say I’ve been better,” Harrison said when asked how he’s feeling physically.
Red flags appeared when he pitched 2 ⅔ innings at the outset of the Brewers’ 11-game, 10-day road trip at Arizona on July 3, and the flags were waving again in St. Louis when he was pulled after four innings and 70 pitches with the Brewers only trailing, 3-0.
“It’s something I’ve been battling the last couple weeks,” Harrison continued. “I guess a good time for a break, right? That’s the best way to look at it and I guess I’m sore in the best spot possible that you could be for the arm, so take the break and hit the second half running.”
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Harrison ranks second on the Brewers behind Jacob Misiorowski with 17 starts, 83 ⅔ innings and 101 strikeouts.
He finishes the first half with an 8-2 record, 3.01 ERA and WHIP of 1.08 and was in contention to join Misiorowski and William Contreras in Philadelphia on the National League entry in the All-Star Game until hitting the first bump in the road in a nightmarish 2 ⅓-inning start in a loss to the A’s in Las Vegas on June 8.
Bad defense behind him combined with high altitude led to Harrison being charged with eight earned runs, raising his ERA from 1.57 to 2.72, and he went on to win only one of his final five starts after charging out of the gates to an 8-1 record.
Harrison bounced back with six innings in a 4-0 shutout of the Philadelphia Phillies on June 14 and 6 ⅓ innings against the Atlanta Braves the next time out. He then went five innings against the Chicago Cubs before needing 72 pitches to grit his way through 2 ⅔ innings against the Diamondbacks.
His start against the Cardinals seemed doomed almost from the first pitch when Masyn Winn’s fly ball to right dropped in for a double with Luis Lara battling the sun, and two more doubles later he and the Brewers trailed by a score of 2-0.
With counterpart Michael McGreevy dealing, Harrison had zero run support for the entirety of his four innings while also surrendering a solo homer to José Fermín in the fourth.
He finished out the frame but hit the showers after, being replaced by Grant Anderson.
“It’s always tough when you start out the first pitch of the game with an extra-base hit,” he said. “Didn’t get off on the right foot I’d say and then my back was against the wall trying to make pitches and get out of innings.
“It was attack from Pitch 1. Kind of a ‘grindy’ day.”
Manager Pat Murphy explained what he and his coaching staff has been seeing from Harrison of late.
“He’s fatigued,” said Murphy. “It’s obvious he’s fatigued, and we’ve got to help him on that. That’s all there is to it. We’ve got to help him. We could have left him in there, but we’re thinking about his future.
“He felt a little soreness and we’re not going to mess with him.”
Murphy then went on to say “he’s not injured.”
“We want to protect him,” he continued. “When we notice his stuff isn’t quite as good and he’s not moving the same way…we’re going to protect these young starters.”
Harrison, who’s pitched to great success by using his four-seam fastball nearly 60% of the time, just hasn’t been able to complement it with either his slurve or a newer changeup that features something of a different grip.
“Just something I felt – I couldn’t really finish my pitches, my breaking stuff, was really feeling it on the changeup,” he said. “Just frustrating. Frustrating you’re out there battling and not feeling good, so I finally said something.
“They’ve got my back, and I don’t think it’s going to be anything too bad. So, keep grinding, take these next couple days of rest and come back stronger.”
It’s certainly not great news on the same day Brandon Woodruff learned he has a new injury to his right shoulder.
Ever the competitor, Harrison admitted it was difficult to step forward and admit to the powers that be that he hasn’t been feeling 100 percent.
“It’s really hard for me personally, especially with how the last couple starts have gone and how my teammates have done going deep into games,” he said. “For me after the fourth (inning) to say that hurt me personally to come out of that game. But I’m not typically a guy that feels stuff in my elbow, so I think it was smart.
“I want to be here for the long haul. Just frustrating, I’d say. It’s really frustrating – especially when I just had a bad start.”
Harrison has been one of the real bright spots in what’s been another amazing first half for the Brewers. Acquired along with fellow left-hander Shane Drohan and infielder David Hamilton from the Boston Red Sox at the outset of spring training, the 24-year-old former top prospect is already profiling as a major building block moving forward in Milwaukee’s rotation behind Misiorowski.
But the injury, which has led to Harrison’s downturn of late, has colored the first half for him.
“Honestly I’d say yeah, it is harder to feel better about that first half,” he said. “It was a first half, but at the same time I could have finished a lot better. Take it into the second half, use that as fuel and be pissed off at these last couple starts and get better.
“That’s all you can do.”
The good news, however, is from everything Harrison understands he should feel much better after this period of rest he’ll receive leading into and over the break and then have a chance to reset heading into the unofficial second half of the season.
“I’m confident in that,” he said. “So are the trainers. So is everyone, so it should be something that’s just a well-needed rest, I guess.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers’ Kyle Harrison dealing with elbow soreness; ‘We’ve got to help him’
Reporting by Todd Rosiak, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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By Todd Rosiak, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
