MILWAUKEE – Nearly a year removed from the block-Buster that stunned the baseball world, we now know beyond a shadow of a doubt who won the epic Giants-Red Sox trade.

It’s the Brewers. The team that in a round-about way snagged Kyle Harrison.

“It’s honestly kind of free in a way to be away from everything,” Harrison said Tuesday night about his journey from San Francisco to Milwaukee, by way of Boston, far removed from his family and friends in the Bay Area who closely monitored his every step as a Giant, a pressure that no longer exists.

“It’s not like I was scared of it, but you just feel like you could come out here and compete, man, and no one’s really stressing about each game. It’s just a cool vibe here with a bunch of good guys, so happy getting my foot in here.”

Excuse the Giants if they thought they wouldn’t see much of Harrison when they traded the lefty and three others to Boston for Rafael Devers last June. How could Harrison come back to haunt them as an American Leaguer? Well, the Red Sox flipped him to the Brewers, who are elated for the good deed — he’s pitching his way to the All-Star Game with a 7-1 record and 1.57 ERA.

Harrison’s back in the National League and figures to face his old team plenty. Round one came Tuesday night at American Family Field, where he spooked the Giants to the tune of 12 strikeouts, matching a career high, over 5 ⅔ innings in an 8-3 Brewers win. The league-worst Giants have dropped seven of eight.

Three of those 12 K’s came against the man for whom Harrison was initially swapped, not great optics for the Giants. Devers saw 20 pitches: 16 four-seam fastballs, three slurves, and a sinker. He struck out looking to complete a 10-pitch at-bat, struck out looking again when catcher William Contreras won an ABS challenge, and completed the hat trick by striking out swinging.

Did Harrison feel an extra boost of energy facing Devers, for obvious reasons?

“Yeah,” he said. “We’ll see. I guess so.”

That’s Kyle-speak for yes. It’s no secret Harrison was looking forward to this start more than most. The Giants were the team that drafted the hometown kid in the third round of the 2020 draft — out of Concord’s De La Salle High School — and offered him first-round money ($2.5 million) to prevent him from pitching at UCLA.

Harrison quickly worked his way to the big leagues and was pitching at Oracle Park late in the 2023 season. He posted a 4.48 ERA over parts of three seasons, but once he joined the Red Sox organization, he got lost in the shuffle. They thought so highly of him that they pitched him all of 12 innings before shipping him to Milwaukee.

Asked if he felt this was a revenge game, facing the Giants, Harrison said, “Yeah. I don’t know. I guess, right? Yeah. Just another game. Definitely miss those guys. But it was good to do that.”

Translation: absolutely.

Around these parts, Harrison is a godsend. He entered the Brewers’ so-called pitching lab, reinvented himself, and came out a star. He was repositioned on the pitching rubber closer to the first-base side early in spring training and slightly elevated his arm slot, a development that occurred somewhat organically thanks to a changeup he added to his repertoire. His slurve became an excellent secondary pitch to a fastball that he’s locating far better in the Midwest than he did on the West Coast.

That potential the Giants always talked about is reaching fruition but in blue and yellow, not orange and black. Could he have done this had he stayed in San Francisco?

“Most of my time in SF, which was unfortunate, I was kind of banged up,” Harrison said, noting his nagging shoulder issues. “Everyone was asking me about velocity, and it was just, like, ‘Man, I’m trying to get there. I’m almost there. I’m feeling good one week, and then the shoulder comes back.’ I think I easily could have gotten there, but it’s hard to look back on it, right? I’m glad I’m just finally feeling healthy now. That’s the biggest thing.”

Despite Harrison’s rise to prominence, it’s a safe bet Posey would make that trade again. Remember, the Giants don’t do well signing elite free agents, so the next best strategy is trading for them. Thus, Devers, who followed an awful April with a breakout May, remains a fixture for the future, Tuesday’s strikeout-fest notwithstanding.

“Glad to have him here and glad to see him have that May and be Rafi,” general manager Zack Minasian said in advance of Tuesday’s game. “Yeah, it’s the price of doing business. It’s not easy to give up young talent, especially somebody like Kyle, from the Bay Area. A lot of people think really highly of him, the person, the work ethic. Not an easy decision putting someone like that in a trade.

“But obviously, really happy that Rafi’s here. For the players that we trade away, I don’t necessarily sit there with a voodoo doll. It’s not my style. You just wish them the best. I know this is a great organization [in Milwaukee], and they’ve done a great job with a lot of different players. So nice for Kyle that he’s thriving.”

The Brewers, who have built a comfortable first-place lead in the NL Central, are 9-2 in Harrison starts. His ERA is lower than any Brewer through 11 starts with the club other than Hall of Famer CC Sabathia (1.43 ERA, 2008), and he had a 23-inning scoreless streak until Willy Adames homered in the sixth inning. 

Afterward, it was hard for Harrison to avoid being giddy.

“It’s like playing against your buddies. You want to beat them in a competitive game, right?” he said, adding, “It’s always going to feel personal, right? I mean, I grew up 40 minutes from that ballpark. I had a great time there and cherished my memories with them. But, man, yeah, it feels good, but I’ve got to do it in another five days, so you can’t get caught up in that.”

The trade has been examined and re-examined, condemned and praised, and everything in between. It was a bold move by Posey and a boon, eventually, for the Brewers. For Devers, Posey sent Harrison, Jordan Hicks, James Tibbs III, and Jose Bello to Boston, and only Bello remains in the Red Sox’s system. The Giants anticipate it’ll work out in the long run with Devers. The Brewers are convinced it’ll work out long term with Harrison, and Tuesday provided a splendid example.

“I’m honestly glad to get it over with,” Harrison said, “so hopefully it won’t be talked about too much now.”

Yeah, that’s not happening anytime soon.