Jacob Misiorowski allows two homers, loses to Reds

It’s a colossal bummer for baseball fans hoping to see Misiorowski hurling triple-digit heaters during next week’s Midsummer Classic, but this was always the expected outcome here. Skenes, Misorowski and Meyer are all taking the ball for their respective club’s first-half finales on Sunday, which means there was zero chance they would be able to pitch in the All-Star Game just three days later. Luzardo, Ashcraft and O’Brien are headed to the game for the first time in their respective careers. It’s likely going to be Shohei Ohtani taking the ball to start for the National League based on how things are lining up from a schedule standpoint.

Jordan Walker hit a two-run homer in the first and Iván Herrera followed with a solo shot in the third, but Misiorowski completely shut the Cardinals down afterwards. He allowed just one hit besides the homers, and he walked none. It’s his eighth 10-strikeout game of the season. Dylan Cease is alone in second place there with five such games. Misiorowski has 167 strikeouts on the season, which is 30 more than Cease and Cristopher Sánchez in second place. He’s the seventh starting pitcher to reach 10 wins this season. No starter has more, though Aaron Ashby has 12 in relief. Misiorowski is slated to pitch again Sunday against the Pirates.

Misiorowski is in line to take the ball for Milwaukee’s first-half finale, which would ostensibly eliminate any chance of him pitching in the Midsummer Classic. The hard-throwing 24-year-old rising star was among the favorites to start the All-Star Game along with Dodgers icon Shohei Ohtani and Phillies ace Cristopher Sánchez.

It’s going to be a tough decision for the National League skipper since Brewers flamethrower Jacob Misiorowski and Phillies ace Cristopher Sánchez both are deserving candidates to start the Midsummer Classic. There’s no scenario where Ohtani will be able to pitch in relief since he’s in the lineup at DH and won’t be able to warm up during the game. Simply put, Ohtani is either going to start the game or not pitch at all. There might not be a decision either way for a couple weeks.

Misiorowski hit 105.5 mph on a first-inning heater to Pete Crow-Armstrong and didn’t allow a hit until Seiya Suzuki connected for a fifth-inning solo homer. That would be the lone run Misiorowski would allow in this one as he authored another masterful performance despite handing out four free passes. He did have to wiggle his way out of his final inning of work when he loaded the bases with two outs, but he was able to strike out Ian Happ to end the threat. The latest gem wraps up a dominant June for Misiorowski, who finishes with a 3-1 record, 0.82 ERA and 0.64 WHIP. He’s scheduled to make his next start on Wednesday at home against the Reds.

It was more of the same for Misiorowski at the start of this game. He was lighting up the radar gun with a handful of 103 and 104 mph fastballs and breezed through the Braves lineup twice over five innings. He wasn’t missing bats like he has been, but wasn’t allowing any damage either. Then, a walk and three singles in the sixth turned into two runs and put Misiorowski in line for the loss. The last time he allowed a run was on May 25th. The last time he allowed multiple runs was on April 25th! As he got into trouble, he tried to get away from his fastball a bit after throwing it nearly 75% of the time over the first five innings. Perhaps, now that we know he’s mortal, he’ll try to mix his cutter and slider in more than he has lately. Regardless, he still left this outing with a 1.45 ERA, 138 strikeouts, and 23 walks through 93 innings so far this season. He’s scheduled to face the Reds in Cincinnati next time out.

This was a jaw-dropping performance. There was never a moment where Misiorowski wasn’t in complete control and he was one Kyle Schwarber single away from throwing a perfect game. That inning ended with a double play so in the end, Misiorowski faced only the minimum 27 batters. He struck out eight of the first nine batters and in the first inning specifically, his fastball averaged 104 mph. Yes, 104 mph. Just completely ridiculous. It only took him 52 total pitches to reach that point too. From there, the Brewers had opened up a big lead and he was more shooting for outs rather than strikeouts, but this was still as dominant a start as we’ve seen from any pitcher in quite some time. Possibly most impressively, he mostly just leaned on that fastball. He threw it 73 percent of the time, it averaged 102 mph, and it forced 23 of his 25 total swings-and-misses. The final five he threw were all at least 103 mph and it looked like he had a few more scoreless innings in him if the game called for it. He didn’t have a single three-ball count. There were only five two-ball counts. It was the most strikeouts ever in a complete game with under 100 pitches, which is commonly known as a ‘Maddux’. He also threw the hardest pitch every recorded by a starting pitcher at 104.5 mph. It’s becoming difficult not to call him the best pitcher in baseball at this point with that kind of velocity, drastically improved command, a 1.34 ERA, and a 131 to 22 strikeout to walk ratio across 96 innings this season. Misiorowski is scheduled to send the Guardians to the buzzsaw next.

Misiorowski stranded two baserunners through four scoreless innings before the Rockies got a run across on an error and a hit in the fifth. He settled in for two more scoreless frames, completing seven innings for the fourth time in his last five starts. He scattered four hits and three walks while collecting eight strikeouts. The 24-year-old right-hander will take a 1.50 ERA, 0.81 WHIP, and a 116/22 K/BB ratio across 78 innings into a start against the Phillies in Milwaukee on Friday.

The Astros loaded the bases in the third, but that was really their only threat today. They totaled one baserunner over the other eight innings of the game. Misiorowski finishes off his ridiculous May at 5-0 with a 0.23 ERA and a 57/6 K/BB in 38 1/3 innings. It’s one of the best months from any pitcher this century, yet it probably won’t win NL Pitcher of the Month because Cristopher Sánchez went without allowing a run. Misiorowski will pitch at Coors Field next time out, but that really shouldn’t scare anyone besides the Rockies.

Misiorowski won’t get his scoreless month as a result of two singles and an RBI groundout in the sixth today. He had a no-hitter before that and was up to 29 1/3 scoreless innings in May. Overall, he’s allowed 11 hits, walked six and struck out 49 in 31 1/3 innings this month. Misiorowski averaged 101.1 mph with his 73 fastballs today and hit 100 on the gun 57 times. He’s now 5-2 with a 1.83 ERA, if he can stay healthy, the Brewers should have a real shot in October this time around. He’ll face the Astros this weekend.