The Milwaukee Brewers' pitching staff, led by Kyle Harrison, had a day to remember.
The Milwaukee Brewers snapped their four-game losing streak in impressive fashion with a 5-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday.
After the shutout victory, manager Pat Murphy started out by praising a career outing by lefty Kyle Harrison, who had 12 strikeouts while allowing just one hit and one walk through six innings.
“You get tired of hearing me say this, but I mean, Harrison was unbelievable,” Murphy told the media. “You know, and again, the Pirates are playing great, and they're confident, they're excited about their season. They had great pitching as you guys have seen, but for Harrison to go in and throw the way he did.”
Murphy also praised catcher William Contreras for his work behind the plate throughout the series.
“You got to give Contreras, you know, his props for what he did,” Murphy said. “He handles all those different pitchers, and for him to do that, that's just.. That's just unheard of.
“And especially with our young staff,” Murphy added. “[For] him to jockey Harrison — and I won't take anything away from Harrison, Harrison did it — but I think William needs to be called out for what he did this weekend.
"It's not something that everybody can do mentally; stay in it the way he did and call the game he did for Harrison and read the swings the way he does.”
After his outing, Harrison discussed using the fastball throughout the night while also relying on his secondary pitches. According to Baseball Savant, Harrison’s 101 pitches were made up of 56 four-seam fastballs, 28 slurves and 17 changeups.
Harrison’s ability to go to his other pitches is something Murphy also placed emphasis on.
“He had his off-speed stuff today,” Murphy added. “And it was really effective for him, and I thought that that was the difference in the game. I think that, again, that was the plan, you know, you have to establish other things and make the heater even better.”
After Harrison’s evening ended in the top of the seventh, it was on the bullpen to finish what he started, and a combination of Trevor Megill, Aaron Ashby, and Abner Uribe did just that. The trio of relievers combined for six strikeouts while allowing three walks and only one hit over three innings.
Their contributions helped the Brewers reach 18 total strikeouts for the day, which has only been done one other time in franchise history (July 14, 2023 vs Cincinnati Reds).
“Our 'pen got some good work,” Murphy said. “You know they had to make big pitches. Megill and Ashby had to make big pitches to not give up damage and preserve what we had going.”
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