Left-hander Kyle Harrison gets an opportunity to avenge his only career defeat when he and the San Francisco Giants oppose the host San Diego Padres on Friday night.
After staff aces Logan Webb and Yu Darvish squared off in a pitchers’ duel for five-plus innings on Thursday, the Padres torched the San Francisco bullpen for four runs in the bottom of the seventh and held on for a 6-4 win in San Diego’s home opener.
Jake Cronenworth got the big hit for the Padres, a two-run double in the seventh that turned a one-run lead into a 6-3 advantage.
Harrison is scheduled to start a day after Webb held the Padres to just two runs and five hits in six innings. Harrison, 22, made his major league debut last August and wound up logging seven starts for San Francisco. He went 1-1 with a 4.15 ERA and 35 strikeouts in 34 2/3 innings.
His only loss came on at San Diego on Sept. 2, when he allowed six runs on six hits in 5 2/3 innings during a 6-1 defeat.
Juan Soto, Xander Bogaerts, Gary Sanchez and Garrett Cooper all homered off Harrison in his only start against San Diego. He surrendered a total of only four homers in his other six starts, and he closed the season with five no-hit innings in a no-decision against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Giants had the only homer in the Thursday game, but it didn’t come until there were two outs and no one on in the ninth. Michael Conforto, who previously singled and doubled, homered off Padres closer Robert Suarez.
Shortstop Nick Ahmed had a splashy debut for the Giants with a single, a double and two RBIs, while high-priced newcomer Jung Hoo Lee recorded his first major league hit in the fifth inning and his first RBI on a sacrifice fly in the seventh.
Not in the best mood after losing in his Giants debut, manager Bob Melvin had nice things to say about Lee afterward.
“(He) got a big sac fly to put us ahead against a tough left-handed pitcher,” Melvin said. “For a first game, (he) gave us a lead after the (top of the) seventh. That’s a productive day to begin with.”
Lee and the Giants will look for a different outcome against San Diego’s Joe Musgrove (0-0, 16.88 ERA). The veteran right-hander will be making his second start of the season after getting roughed up by the Los Angeles Dodgers for five runs on seven hits in 2 2/3 innings in the Padres’ 15-11 win last week in Seoul, South Korea.
Musgrove, who went 10-3 with a 3.05 ERA last season, has gone 4-3 with a 3.86 ERA in 13 career starts against San Francisco.
Musgrove, 31, remains confident after a shaky start that followed a shaky spring (13.50 ERA).
“I feel like I’ve always been somebody who finds my stuff and sharpens up as games go, as the season goes,” he said. “The more game reps I get, I feel that’s when I make the best adjustments throughout the course of games.”
