How Kyle Harrison's ERA improved by nearly half a run during the Brewers' off-day

Milwaukee Brewers' offseason trade acquisition Kyle Harrison has been a dominant force in the team's rotation this year, with two exceptions. Ironically, both of Harrison's particularly rough outings this year have come on the West Coast.

The 25-year-old southpaw may be blameless for his first poor outing of the season, in which he allowed eight earned runs in 2.1 innings against the Athletics back on June 8. That series was played at Las Vegas Ballpark, the home of the Athletics' Triple-A squad, which, due to the thin air, dry heat, and lack of a third deck to block what seemed to be gale force winds blowing out to center field, was a hitter's paradise in early June. It wasn't just Harrison who was struggling to keep runs off the board; 48 total runs (an average of 16 per game) were scored during the series, leading to more questions about why MLB chose to play a pair of series at the ballpark than Harrison's ineffectiveness.

That said, just two months later, Harrison returned to the West Coast for a matchup against the San Diego Padres, and a similar outcome occurred. The Brewers' left-hander covered 4.2 innings this time, but he allowed eight earned runs on 10 hits and saw his ERA jump to a season-high 3.47 mark.

However, though Harrison certainly didn't have his best stuff against the Padres last week, his outing wasn't nearly as bad as the stat line initially reflected. Thankfully, after a scoring change that occurred while the Brewers were enjoying a well-deserved day off on Monday, Harrison's earned run total from last Tuesday's start in San Diego has dropped from eight to three, significantly impacting his ERA.

Kyle Harrison ridded of five earned runs from Padres start after MLB credits Jihwan Bae with error

The main cause of a Harrison's poor start against the Padres was a five-run second inning that included a Grand Slam off the bat of former Brewer Luis Rengifo. However, before Rengifo's revenge, the Brewers missed out on what was perhaps their best chance at turning a triple play this year.

Harrison surrendered two singles to start the inning before Padres' catcher, Luis Campusano, who is not fleet of foot, bounced a ground ball to third baseman David Hamilton. Hamilton stepped on third base before tossing a low, but very catchable throw over to second baseman Jihwan Bae. Stretched out like a first baseman, Bae missed the catch and the runners were safe at both first and second. The play was initially ruled simply a fielder's choice, not an error, which meant that each of the five runs the Padres went on to score in the inning were earned.

However, as reported by Brewers' director of media relations Mike Vassallo, the play has now been changed to an E4 (missed catch error by Bae), which means that five of the eight runs Harrison allowed last Tuesday are now unearned. The scoring change, as noted in the post from Vassallo below, results in Harrison's season-long ERA dropping from 3.47 to 2.99.

It's the right call from MLB's scoring officials. Though it wasn't a straightforward drop from Bae, the Brewers' second baseman certainly should have caught the ball and if he did, Rengifo's two-out Grand Slam would have never occurred. On top of that, Harrison would have thrown just nine pitches in the second inning rather than the 34 that he ultimately ended up tossing. A long inning like that can easily impact the rest of the start for a pitcher, so who knows how Harrison would have performed if he had escaped the second inning when he should have?

Harrison's goals likely extend past maintaining a sparkling sub-3.00 ERA; the Brewers' starter is certainly more concerned with why his stuff wasn't as sharp in San Diego than how many earned runs he surrendered. However, though he didn't pitch as well as Brewers fans have come to expect him to, more context was required for his initial eight-run outing, and now that context is reflected in his updated stat line.

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