Kyle Harrison looked every bit rusty in his return to the mound on Saturday in Cleveland.
The De La Salle High graduate put San Francisco in a four-run hole early, and though the Giants battled back late, they eventually fell to the AL Central leading Guardians 5-4.
After missing the last 19 games due to an ankle sprain, and in his first start since June 10, Harrison pitched 3 ⅓ innings, allowing four hits and four runs while walking four batters. Harrison did not pitch in a rehab game before playing on Saturday.
The Giants had multiple opportunities to score and possibly take the lead, but couldn’t covert. San Francisco finished the game 1 for 13 with runners in scoring position.
Jorge Soler thrived as a lead-off hitter, going 1 for 3 with a double while getting walked twice. Tyler Fitzgerald knocked in two runs on an RBI single.
Fremont native Steven Kwan went 2 for 4 and had a solo home run for Cleveland.
“(Kyle) has been out for a while and hadn’t thrown in a game,” said Giants manager Bob Melvin. “Once he got into it a little bit, it looked like he got better toward the end. For a while there it looked like I had to get someone up there in the first, but he got through it and kept us there.”
“We battled back really nicely and made it a game where at the beginning, it didn’t feel like it. We had our chances offensively, but I think overall, Kyle will be much better by his next time out.”
The Guardians jumped on Harrison early.
Kwan hit a single, second baseman Angel Martínez was walked and José Ramírez singled to center field as the top of Cleveland’s lineup loaded the bases in the first inning.
Cleanup hitter Josh Naylor scored Kwan on a ground out, giving Cleveland its first run of the game. After Harrison loaded the bases again by walking David Fry, Jhonkensy Noel brought home Martínez on a deep sacrifice fly to center field. In the next at-bat, Tyler Freeman knocked in Ramírez to give Cleveland a 3-0 lead to end the first.
In the second inning, Kwan homered on a pitch near the top of the strike zone that flew past the wall in center field, giving the Guardians a four-run advantage.
Harrison exited in the fourth inning after 72 pitches, 44 of those being strikes.
“Honestly I think it was just a tough first inning,” Harrison said. “I was working a little too fast and didn’t have my legs quite under me in the first and had too many walks. … I wasted a lot of pitches and so they came at me in the first, and I was pretty mad because I knew I didn’t have too many more.”
The Giants struggled against Cleveland starter Logan Allen, totaling just two hits through four innings, but San Francisco’s offense found its groove in the fifth.
Jorge started the inning with a lead-off walk. Later on, Heliot Ramos singled, which prompted Guardians’ manager Stephen Vogt to pull the lefty Barlow for right-handed pitcher Scott Barlow.
Matt Chapman walked in Barlow’s first at-bat to load the bases with one out in the inning. Fitzgerald singled to center field, which scored Soler and Ramos to put the Giants on the board.
San Francisco capped off its rally with a double steal that saw Chapman score from third, cutting the Cleveland lead to 4-3.
Cleveland pushed the lead back to two runs in the sixth when Noel homered to left field off reliever Luke Jackson. It was Jackson’s fourth homer he has given up this year.
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The Giants got back within striking distance in the seventh after Michael Conforto’s RBI double that scored Chapman, making the score 5-4.
In the ninth, Cleveland closer Emmanuel Clase retired Mike Yastrzemski, Ramos and Conforto to ice the game for the host Guardians.
The end of the road trip is near for San Francisco, as it will play Cleveland tomorrow before starting a six-game home stand before the All-Star break. Righty Hayden Birdsong is Sunday’s expected starter.