Game report
Athletics 13, Brewers 2
Shoddy defense and a couple of loud swings sullied Kyle Harrison’s line, but the lefty pitched much better than his six earned runs over 4 ⅓ innings will show.
Harrison established his fastball and did so – perhaps too well – while also flashing some excellent secondary pitches.
“I wanted to fill the zone and honestly felt like I did a little too much,” Harrison said. “But at the end of the day, was feeling great. I was able to get it in certain spots I wanted but personally wanted to be a little more gloveside and missed a couple times and those leaked over the fence.”
Harrison got five ups in, making him the first Brewers pitcher this spring to get to the fifth inning, and held his velocity well throughout.
The other stride made by the left-hander was gaining more confidence in his changeup. Though Harrison only got one whiff on the new pitch, he made an effort to throw it in more high-stress situations to practice getting hitters off his fastball in those spots.
“Doing little things to get the confidence up with it,” Harrison said. “I think I had two or three bad, uncompetitive misses and spikes. Just trying to shrink that number, honestly, and get more comfortable with the pitch and throw it in high-intensity situations.”
The Brewers struggled on defense, with Jake Bauers misplaying two balls in the sun in left field and David Hamilton bungling a grounder with Harrison pitching. Hamilton did make the play of the spring later, though, with a wide-ranging stop deep into the hole and jump throw for the out at first.
Brandon Woodruff throws simulated game
Brandon Woodruff looked sharp and, more importantly, got through four relatively easy innings during a simulated game in the morning. The right-hander made such quick work that, initially scheduled for three innings, he went back out for a fourth to get his pitch count up another 15 to 20 pitches.
“It was good to get the extra stress with the up instead of the pitches, per se,” Woodruff said.
Although there were no velocity or movement readings in the stadium, Woodruff looked like he was on his game, pounding the zone with fastballs and getting whiffs on changeups and breaking balls.
“Pretty game-like fastball,” said Brewers outfielder Sal Frelick after standing in the box. “He has that going and he’ll go into a game and throw it 20 straight times if you don’t adjust to it.”
Woodruff’s status for opening day remains “up in the air” with either one or two build-up starts potentially remaining.
“Getting the fourth up today was, I guess you could say, good, but it’s still TBD,” he said. “My main goal is the end of the year. We’ll see what happens.”
Woodruff did confirm that he has no issue pitching on four days’ rest. Last year, he went almost entirely on five days’ rest in his return from shoulder surgery and it was a late-season shift to “regular” rest that played a role in his season-ending lat injury.
“There are turns of the calendar where you have to go on a five-day [schedule],” Woodruff said. “That’s okay. I can make that adjustment and hopefully by that time my body is in a great position to hold that.”
Brewers spring training schedule
Brewers vs. Rockies, 3:10 p.m. Saturday: Milwaukee RHP Jacob Misiorowski vs. Colorado TBA. Radio – 620 WTMJ.
Brewers at Giants, 3:05 p.m. Sunday: Milwaukee LHP Shane Drohan vs. San Francisco LHP Robbie Ray. Radio – 620 WTMJ.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers look sloppy in loss, but Kyle Harrison and Brandon Woodruff take steps forward
Reporting by Curt Hogg, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
