Kyle Harrison’s best stretch of the season unraveled in one night in Las Vegas. The Milwaukee Brewers left-hander gave up eight earned runs in 2 1/3 innings Monday, his worst start of the year, in the first MLB game in the city since 1996.
Harrison entered the game with a 1.57 ERA and just 10 runs allowed all season, but the Athletics battered him for three homers and a flood of traffic that sent the Brewers into a 15-14 loss in 12 innings. He also struck out four, a small bright spot in a night that quickly turned against him.
The setting made the outing stand out even more. Las Vegas Ballpark, home of the Athletics’ Triple-A affiliate, the Las Vegas Aviators, is hosting a six-game homestand while the club waits for its new ballpark in Las Vegas in 2028. For one night, a minor league park carried major league weight, and Harrison was the pitcher trying to keep it from becoming a showcase for the wrong kind of history.
He did not lean on the surroundings afterward. Harrison said he did not want to use the ballpark as an excuse, even after a game in which 11 home runs were hit and the Brewers watched a strong start to June collapse into a game they could not finish off. For Milwaukee, the loss hurts because it wasted a rare chance to keep pace in a game that should have been decided long before the 12th inning.
The Brewers will have to move on quickly, but the broader storyline in Las Vegas is just beginning. The Athletics still have five more home dates to play at Las Vegas Ballpark before the temporary setup gives way to a permanent one in 2028, and Harrison’s rough night will be part of the first major league chapter written there in nearly 30 years.
