Milwaukee Brewers left-hander Kyle Harrison, undefeated in five starts last month, will present a big challenge Tuesday night for the visiting San Francisco Giants, who will look to bounce back from a lopsided loss in the series opener.
Harrison (6-1, 1.57 ERA) will oppose right-hander Trevor McDonald (2-2, 4.34).
The Brewers pounded out a season-high 18 hits and a season-best run total in a 16-2 victory Monday. The result was a reversal for the Giants, who amassed 25 hits in a 19-6 win at Colorado on Sunday.
Christian Yelich and David Hamilton had three hits apiece for the Brewers on Monday. Brice Turang, who snapped an 0-for-21 skid with a first-inning double, also tripled home two runs to key a seven-run second inning.
Matt Chapman put the Giants up 2-0 in the second with a two-run homer, his second home run of the season. It snapped a career-high 53-game homerless streak dating to March 31.
“We know how good they are, and it’s going to be a dogfight no matter what,” Chapman said of the Brewers. “Unfortunately, two opposite lopsided games in a row, but that’s baseball sometimes. It sucks when you want to try to get something rolling and build off of it, but we’ve got another one (Tuesday).”
Milwaukee, 18-5 in its past 23 games, is a season-high 15 games over .500. The Brewers, who rank last in the majors with 40 home runs, scored 16 runs or more without hitting a home run for the third time in franchise history.
Harrison capped his unbeaten May (4-0) with a 6-0 victory over St. Louis last Tuesday. He permitted four hits in six innings, striking out two with no walks in a 92-pitch outing.
“I’m liking the no walks. Attacking each hitter,” Harrison said following the game. “Those are some of the things I’ve been really priding myself on. When you have a defense like this, just go out and do that, man.”
Harrison finished with an 0.96 ERA in five starts in May, allowing three runs in 28 innings. His 1.57 ERA for the season is the lowest of any pitcher in Brewers history after his first 10 starts with the club, topping CC Sabathia’s 1.59 ERA in 2008. Harrison is riding an 18-inning scoreless streak.
McDonald, meanwhile, will make his sixth start for the Giants — who have lost six of their past seven games — since being called up from Triple-A Sacramento in early May. He took the defeat in his latest start despite allowing just three runs, two earned, in 6 1/3 innings in a 3-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday.
McDonald’s ERA is a bit misleading, as seven of the 14 earned runs he has allowed came in one inning during a 9-4 loss to the Chicago White Sox on May 22.
Longtime minor-leaguer Wilkin Ramos, called up earlier Monday from Sacramento, made his major league debut for the Giants and allowed two runs on three hits in two innings. The 25-year-old right-hander went 3-1 with a 2.00 ERA across 17 games in Triple-A, logging a 1.42 ERA in May (two runs in 12 2/3 innings).
–Field Level Media
