Kyle Harrison dominates one side of the plate in SF Giants debut

Kyle Harrison’s highly anticipated Giants debut was a one-sided affair in a very literal sense, but he still showed that the hype following him into Tuesday’s game against the Phillies was well deserved.

Manager Gabe Kapler announced Sunday that the ballclub had called up the De La Salle product after some excellent minor-league play, including 105 strikeouts in 65 2/3 innings. Harrison is ranked as the best left-handed pitching prospect in the league and the 20th-best prospect in all of baseball, according to MLB.com.

With his loved ones in attendance all wearing shirts with “HARRISON” etched multiple times on the front, and San Francisco’s offense providing a one-run cushion, the young pitcher started with a 94 mph heater for an opening strike against Kyle Schwarber. That was about as much success as he’d have against left-handed hitters, who were the bane of his existence during his debut, at least at the plate.

All five hits that the rookie would give up, including two doubles and a home run, came from left-handed batters. Schwarber smoked a double to right field, and Bryce Harper brought him home two batters later on a moonshot to center off an 83 mph slurve to give the Phillies a 2-0 lead. If there was a silver lining, it was that at least Harrison’s first true mistake came against one of the game’s best.

The other side of the box had a much tougher time against the young man. Between Schwarber and Harper were Trea Turner and Nick Castellanos, both righties, who struck out. Harrison even recovered from Harper’s homer quickly enough to catch Alec Bohm looking on an inside fastball. Right-handed batters time and time again would bite on high fastballs, at speeds up to 97 mph. The lefties got all the hits; the righties got all the strikeouts, going 0-for-9 overall.

Kapler recognized the kind of work Harrison was putting in against a lineup as fierce as the Phillies’.

“It wasn’t just Major League hitters, it was really good right-handed Major League hitters that he was throwing the ball by. … Those are some elite right-handed hitters, particularly against left-handed pitching,” Kapler said. “You just don’t see it very often. It’s pretty unusual, and it’s a good signal of things to come.”

There were even a couple of flashes of drama for the 22-year-old. The first came when he accidentally caught Edmundo Sosa on the elbow with a fastball. The Philadelphia shortstop, who wears an elbow guard and leaned over the plate, decided to stare down Harrison, but nothing came of the incident. The second happened when he loaded the bases after walking Schwarber — which followed a strikeout against righty Johan Rojas — and Turner fired one into center that could have caused serious problems if Wade Meckler hadn’t made a sliding, inning-saving catch.

Harrison did have one other victory over a left-hander, and it even came against Harper, though the Phillies star had to get on base first. With J.T. Realmuto at the plate, Harrison was about to throw on a 1-2 count but instead turned to first base, where he caught Harper trying to steal second. It wasn’t at the level of a Patrick Bailey pickoff, but outs against perennial All-Stars don’t count any less if they’re anticlimactic.

His final pitch came against lefty Bryson Stott, who lined one into center on an off-speed pitch. Meckler made his second heroic dive of the evening, limiting the hit to just a single after diving to grab the ball on one hop. Harrison’s debut lasted 3.1 innings, with two earned runs on five hits and five strikeouts. The Giants lost 4-3 on a walk-off single that bounced off Camilo Doval in the bottom of the ninth.