Brewers 4, Nationals 1: Kyle Harrison is terrific once again

WASHINGTON – Kyle Harrison sure is looking like a keeper.

The left-hander threw six strong innings for the second straight start and the Milwaukee Brewers offense took full advantage of a first-inning error by Washington Nationals third baseman Brady House in notching a 4-1 victory at Nationals Park on Saturday afternoon, May 2.

Harrison struck out five and got better as the game went along in his sixth start since coming over to the Brewers from the Boston Red Sox in the Caleb Durbin trade in early February.

"The front office recognized that this is a kid they wanted to go after because of some of his properties and their assessment of what he could be," manager Pat Murphy said. "He came in and had some hiccups early – his spring training was not the best – but it was a learning curve.

"We took him through the car wash , and it's really worked out."

House, meanwhile, booted a routine ground ball with the bases loaded in the first, with one run scoring on the play and then two more a batter later on a Brandon Lockridge single.

Those three runs stood up the rest of the way, although things got interesting in the bottom of the ninth inning after David Hamilton dropped a routine popup in shallow left field to leave two on with nobody out.

Abner Uribe recovered, however, to record his third save of the season and set up a potential series sweep on Sunday.

Box score | Standings

A very "Brewers" first inning

With two outs in the first, William Contreras singled to left, making him an incredible 9 for his last 10 with a walk. He made the start at designated hitter after playing every inning at catcher the previous seven games.

"He's been really good," said Murphy. "We're looking for consistency and approach, and I mean, this guy's got a chance to be a top-10 player in the league, if he stays consistent, in every way."

Gary Sánchez and Jake Bauers followed with walks, then House booted a ground ball to third by Luis Rengifo that allowed Contreras to score.

That brought up Brandon Lockridge, who summarily yanked a two-run single to center to up Milwaukee's lead to 3-0 and hand Harrison some valuable breathing room before he even took the mound.

Kyle Harrison takes another step forward

Harrison erased a leadoff infield single by James Wood two batters later with an inning-ending double play, worked around a leadoff walk in the second and then got another twin killing on a grounder off the bat of Keibert Ruiz before fanning Wood to complete three scoreless innings.

Curtis Mead doubled off the wall in right to begin the bottom of the fourth and two batters later CJ Abrams doubled him in to cut Milwaukee's lead to 3-1.

But after generating only three swings and misses through the first three innings, Harrison got five en route to striking out three Nationals batters following the Mead two-bagger.

"Facing this team and knowing it's an aggressive group, it was important for me to kind of lay in my secondaries early to make sure I could get chase later," said Harrison, who improved to 3-1 while lowering his ERA to 2.12. "Good day to mix in all the offerings, for sure."

He then stranded a leadoff single in the sixth and closed his day having allowed seven hits and a walk with five strikeouts over 93 pitches.

"He was great," said Murphy. "He started to use his off-speed stuff more effectively and started to believe in it more. Just overall, he's getting more and more situated and knowing who he has to be. He knows this is not easy. He knows there's going to be ups and downs in this deal, but he's really intent, really focused.

"It's been fun watching this maturation right in front of us."

A crucial seventh from the bullpen

Grant Anderson replaced Harrison in the seventh and allowed a leadoff double but recorded the next two outs to set up what was probably the at-bat of the game: Wood against DL Hall .

Hall fell behind, 2-1, then Wood fouled off two straight pitches before grounding out to Jake Bauers at first to end the threat.

"They called down and gave me a head's up," Hall said. "I went (2 ⅓ innings) last outing so today it worked out just perfect just to get in there for a quick one.

"We've had a few battles throughout our careers and he's gotten me a couple times. Today I just told myself, "I'm going to go right after him and just see what happens.'"

Added Murphy: "Hall came in and got a big out. Big-time."

Applying the finishing touches

Rengifo, Lockridge and Sal Frelick all singled to load the bases with one out in the eighth for none other than Mr. Bases Loaded himself, Joey Ortiz .

And while he was unable to break the game open he did drive a run in by smacking a bouncer off the plate hard enough to drive David Hamilton in from third, extending Milwaukee's lead to 4-1.

Garrett Mitchell then walked to load the bases again, but Brice Turang struck out.

Trevor Megill delivered a scoreless eighth – his seventh consecutive appearance without allowing an earned run – Abner Uribe ran into some trouble when Jacob Young singled to start the ninth and then Hamilton clanked a routine pop fly to shallow left after replacing Rengifo at third.

It was at that point pitching coach Chris Hook brought a different glove to Uribe on the mound, with the right-hander explaining afterward that he had been pitching with a newer glove that didn't close as tightly and that he had requested his old gamer that closes all the way so as to not tip pitches to Young at second base.

Maybe it was the glove, maybe it was the quality of his offerings – either way, Uribe got a strikeout, a popout and a groundout to lock down his third save and a hard-fought victory for the Brewers.

What time is the Brewers game today?

Time: 3:05 p.m. CT

What channel is the Brewers game on today?

TV channel: Brewers.TV.

Brewers 2026 record

18-14

Brewers lineup

• Garrett Mitchell CF

• Brice Turang 2B

• William Contreras DH

• Gary Sánchez C

• Jake Bauers 1B

• Luis Rengifo 3B

• Brandon Lockridge LF

• Sal Frelick RF

• Joey Ortiz SS

Nationals lineup

• James Wood RF

• Curtis Mead 1B

• Brady House 3B

• CJ Abrams SS

• Jacob Young CF

• Daylen Lile LF

• Joey Wiemer RF

• Nasim Nuñez 2B

• Keibert Ruiz C

Brewers schedule

Brewers at Nationals, May 3 12:35 p.m.: Milwaukee TBA vs. Washington RHP Zack Littell (0-4, 7.85). TV – Brewers.TV. Radio – AM-620 WTMJ.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers 4, Nationals 1: Kyle Harrison is terrific once again