Giants baffled by ex-teammate Kyle Harrison, who strikes out 12, as S.F. drops into last place
MILWAUKEE - With the San Francisco Giants' rotation in the doldrums and the team facing its own former top prospect, a local product, to boot, the outcome was all but preordained Tuesday, as if from some sort of baseball oracle.
Left-hander Kyle Harrison, sent to Boston in the Rafael Devers deal last year, absolutely dominated his former club, with matching his career high with 12 strikeouts - for a little dash of extra drama, three of them Devers - in the Brewers' 8-3 win.
Harrison admitted he had the game circled on his calendar for some time.
"I mean, I grew up 40 minutes from that ballpark, I had a great time there, and cherish my memories with them," said Harrison, adding of beating the team that dealt him away, "It feels good, you know, but I've got to do it in another five days, so I don't want to get caught up in that. I will say it was fun to toe the rubber against them, though."
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Asked if this was a revenge game, Harrison said with a big smile, "I don't know - I guess, right? No, just another game. I definitely missed those guys."
What about striking out Devers three times? An even bigger smile. "Yeah, We'll see. I guess so," he said.
Brewers 8, Giants 3
San Francisco
AB
R
H
BI
BB
SO
Avg.
Totals
37
3
10
3
2
14
Schmitt lf
5
0
0
0
0
2
.282
Devers 1b
5
0
0
0
0
4
.246
Arraez 2b
5
1
2
0
0
1
.323
Adames ss
3
1
2
1
1
0
.245
Chapman 3b
3
0
0
0
1
1
.231
Kennedy dh
3
0
0
0
0
2
.000
a-Eldridge ph-dh
1
1
1
1
0
0
.254
Susac c
4
0
3
0
0
1
.323
Bericoto rf
3
0
1
0
0
1
.222
b-Lee ph-rf
1
0
1
1
0
0
.307
Cox cf
3
0
0
0
0
2
.200
c-Gilbert ph-cf
1
0
0
0
0
0
.229
Milwaukee
AB
R
H
BI
BB
SO
Avg.
Totals
33
8
11
8
7
6
Yelich dh
3
2
2
2
2
1
.286
Chourio lf
4
2
2
1
1
0
.284
Turang 2b
4
0
2
2
1
1
.275
Contreras c
4
0
0
0
1
1
.288
Bauers 1b
5
1
1
3
0
1
.275
Mitchell cf
3
1
2
0
1
0
.238
Frelick rf
4
1
2
0
0
1
.225
Rengifo 3b
3
0
0
0
0
0
.206
Hamilton ss
3
1
0
0
1
1
.234
San Francisco
000
001
020_3
10
3
Milwaukee
300
000
14x_8
11
0
a-singled for Kennedy in the 8th. b-singled for Bericoto in the 8th. c-flied out for Cox in the 8th.
E_McDonald (1), Susac (2), Chapman (8). LOB_San Francisco 9, Milwaukee 9. 2B_Arraez (11), Mitchell (10), Chourio (9). 3B_Arraez (4). HR_Adames (9), off Harrison; Bauers (10), off McDonald. RBIs_Adames (24), Eldridge (5), Lee (20), Bauers 3 (36), Turang 2 (35), Yelich 2 (20), Chourio (12). SB_Yelich (4), Turang (10). CS_Rengifo (2). S_Rengifo.
Runners left in scoring position_San Francisco 4 (Chapman, Gilbert, Devers 2); Milwaukee 6 (Contreras, Yelich, Bauers 3, Rengifo). RISP_San Francisco 2 for 9; Milwaukee 4 for 14.
Runners moved up_Schmitt, Adames, Contreras, Chourio. GIDP_Turang, Frelick.
DP_San Francisco 2 (Adames, Devers; Adames, Devers).
San Francisco
IP
H
R
ER
BB
SO
NP
ERA
McDonald, L, 2-3
5
5
3
3
3
4
87
4.50
Miller
1
1
0
0
0
1
14
4.15
Hentges
1-3
0
1
1
2
0
15
2.25
Kilian
2-3
1
0
0
1
0
20
3.71
Beck
1
4
4
4
1
1
42
10.80
Milwaukee
IP
H
R
ER
BB
SO
NP
ERA
Harrison, W, 7-1
5
2-3
4
1
1
2
12
106
1.57
Ashby, H, 2
1
1-3
3
1
1
0
1
29
2.17
Uribe, H, 7
1
3
1
1
0
0
14
4.03
Megill
1
0
0
0
0
1
10
4.09
Inherited runners-scored_Kilian 2-1, Ashby 1-0, Uribe 1-1.
ABS Challenge_Chourio (Strike-Confirmed); Devers (Strike-Overturned to Ball); Devers (Strike-Confirmed).
Umpires_Home, Paul Clemons; First, Quinn Wolcott; Second, Edwin Jimenez; Third, Ramon De Jesus.
T_2:57. A_29,728 (41,700).
San Francisco has dropped four of five games to open the 10-game trip and has lost seven of eight overall. The Giants (23-38) now hold the NL's worst record after the Rockies (24-38) beat the Angels on Tuesday night. Adding to the poetry of it all, Harrison's Brewers are 37-21 and hold a six-game lead in the NL Central.
"It's a crazy tough lineup, they're going to wear you down, they're going to get that pitch count up," Harrison said. "Trust me, I faced these guys - it's like it was going good, going good, and all of a sudden it could go bad. And then the defense makes great plays behind you and the fight that we have, the belief every day, it's like, ‘We don't care, let's go.'"
Harrison has a 1.57 ERA, fifth best in the majors. San Francisco's starters have a combined 4.94 ERA; none has an ERA lower than 4.22.
The Brewers moved Harrison over to the first-base side of the rubber during the spring and on his own, he changed his arm angle in part because he has added a changeup, and he also has worked extensively on his posture. The biggest difference, though, is that he's healthy; Harrison, 24, had an ankle injury that led to a shoulder injury that impacted much of his last year-plus with the Giants. He noted that he kept getting asked about his velocity toward the end of his time in San Francisco - Tuesday, he threw five pitches 97 mph or harder - four of them to Devers. He also got 19 swings-and-misses.
"He's totally different," Giants shortstop Willy Adames said. "I heard that he was like that when he was coming up in the minor leagues, but (the Brewers) totally helped him, they fixed him. His stuff is way above average, everything that he was throwing today and he executed on every pitch. The numbers speak for themselves."
Working so swiftly he almost quick-pitched a few Giants' hitters, Harrison gave up only four hits, including former Brewer Adames' solo homer in the sixth, and walked two.
"He just does a good job of commanding the fastball," said Giants catcher Daniel Susac, who estimated he had faced Harrison a good 70 times in youth-league baseball growing up in Northern California. "You have to start making an adjustment to it, and then obviously the offspeed starts to open up. He did a really good job of working in and out."
San Francisco didn't put anything together until Harrison left, when Susac and Victor Bericoto singled off Aaron Ashby with no outs in the seventh. Jonah Cox, called up Sunday, popped up a bunt attempt, however, and Casey Schmitt and Devers grounded out.
In the eighth, with more of the regulars inserted as pinch-hitters against right-hander Abner Uribe, the Giants added two more runs, with Bryce Eldridge - on the bench while right-handed-hitting Buddy Kennedy started at DH - providing a pinch-hit RBI single and Jung Hoo Lee following suit.
That cut it to one, but the Giants then fell into that leadoff walk trap that keeps sinking them lately.
Tristan Beck came in to start the eighth and walked Garrett Mitchell. Sal Frelick followed with a single and with two outs, the wheels came completely off, with a Christian Yelich two-run single, Drew Gilbert narrowly missing Jackson Chourio's drive to the fence in center that wound up an RBI double and Brice Turang driving in Chourio with a base hit.
The Giants walked seven in all. Five turned into runs.
"As you tally up those numbers, more times than not when you look at the scorecard, the team with the fewer walks is going to win," Giants manager Tony Vitello said.
Giants starter Trevor McDonald appeared as if he'd have the same sort of rough outing that has afflicted the rotation lately when he walked the first two batters of the game, then gave up a two-out homer to Jake Bauers on a 2-2 sinker. McDonald snapped to from there, though, working around some traffic here and there but holding the Brewers to just the three runs through his five innings.
"Obviously, you'd love to undo that deal where he walks two guys and he's a pitch away and I know (Bauers) is leading their team in home runs, and he shoots one over," Vitello said. "But to regain composure, and the bullpen … we're a little short-handed there, so for him to do what he did was outstanding."
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This story was originally published June 3, 2026 at 2:07 AM.