Milwaukee Brewers at Kansas City Royals

Through two starts, the early returns on Brewers left-hander Kyle Harrison have been encouraging. Harrison was solid again on Sunday afternoon as he limited the Royals to two runs on three hits and two walks over 5 1/3 innings to help Milwaukee secure an 8-5 victory at Kauffman Stadium. By winning two of three in the weekend series, the Brewers were able to move on to Boston with a 7-2 record while showing some characteristics of the team that rang up 95 victories in 2025. Starting pitching is generally the foundation of a winning ballclub and Harrison is flashing signs that he can be a key ingredient for Milwaukee this season. He finished his outing with a flourish, retiring nine of the last 10 hitters that he faced after getting a huge lift from right fielder Luis Matos, who threw out speedy Bobby Witt Jr. at the plate on a 93.4 mph throw in the third, when Witt tried to score the potential tying run from second on a Vinnie Pasquantino single. “He kept his composure,” manager Pat Murphy said of Harrison. “Even when he had a couple of hiccups and gave up a couple of runs, he stuck in there and pitched into the sixth inning. Which I thought was wonderful.” Harrison’s toughest inning was the third. With a 3-0 lead, he surrendered a two-run homer to Maikel Garcia. Moments later, Witt was at second, when Pasquantino singled sharply and Witt came around third headed for the plate. What made the play by Matos especially impressive was that Witt is one of the fastest baserunners in the Major Leagues. “It’s huge,” Harrison said. “The throw was on the money.” Harrison backed up the play at the plate and got an up-close view of the out call. “Pretty cool,” Harrison said. The Brewers are intrigued to see what they have in Matos, who made his Brewers debut in Game 2 of Saturday’s doubleheader.