San Francisco Giants Star Rookie Made MLB History with Dominant Outing

In his rookie season, one of the San Francisco Giants young stars has made MLB history following his latest outing.

Jul 19, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; San Francisco Giants pitcher Kyle Harrison (45) delivers the ball in first inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field / Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

Things have not been easy for the San Francisco Giants throughout the season.

Injuries and inconsistent play has plagued them all year, forcing skipper Bob Melvin to call upon some less proven players than he would have liked following the front office's aggressive overhaul this winter.

The hope is things will stabilize in the second half as Blake Snell looks much closer to the elite pitcher who won his second Cy Young award compared to the version which had a ballooned ERA.

While the star left-hander garnered many of the headlines because of his injuries and poor performances, the Giants also had another important piece of their rotation on the IL in Kyle Harrison.

After starting seven games in 2023 and posting a 4.15 ERA, the 22-year-old was expected to be a huge part of San Francisco's success slotted behind Logan Webb and Snell.

In mid-June, the left-hander was placed on the injured list with a sprained ankle that kept him out until he was activated on July 6. That was unfortunate timing because he had a 2.92 ERA in his two starts that month, looking like he found his groove following his tough early stretch.

Harrison struggled in his first outing after his IL stint, giving up four earned runs in 3.1 innings, but since that point he's been excellent, only allowing one run over his last 10.1 frames.

That includes a dominant outing against the Colorado Rockies on Friday where he pitched five scoreless innings and only gave up one hit.

This outing also put him into the Major League Baseball history books.

Kyle Harrison of the @SFGiants is the first visiting pitcher ever to have 2 scoreless starts of 5.0+ innings at Coors Field in the same season.

He did it as a 22-year-old rookie. pic.twitter.com/Zd6nDdjnVs

— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) July 20, 2024

That's an impressive feat.

Coors Field is known to produce a ton of runs because of Denver's altitude. Pitchers have had inflated numbers there throughout their careers, so it's surprising to see any starter go five or more innings without allowing a run.

The fact that nobody in MLB history had done this twice in the same season is telling.

The Rockies first started playing in this stadium in 1995 when they were added as an expansion team, so it took almost 30 years for a pitcher to accomplish what Harrison just did.

Hopefully this is something that gives the young starter momentum for the second half of the season so the Giants can put together a run to get into the playoffs.