Jacob Misiorowski allows two homers, loses to Reds

If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. The Brewers will roll with exactly the same 26-man roster that they used to get past the Padres in the Division Series. The NLCS gets underway on Saturday evening in Milwaukee with an epic pitching showdown between Brewers’ ace Jacob Misiorowski and Dodgers’ star southpaw Tarik Skubal.

Misiorowski will square off against Dodgers trade deadline acquisition Tarik Skubal, who was reportedly pursued by the Brewers prior to the deal with Los Angeles, to kick off the best-of-seven opener in Milwaukee. Logan Henderson will start Game 2, and the plan is for Robert Gasser to get the nod in Game 3. There are plenty of narratives here, but the most compelling to monitor is whether Misiorowski can go shut down Los Angeles’ star-studded lineup multiple times to help lead the Brewers to the Fall Classic for the first time since 1982. The hard-throwing 24-year-old allowed two runs over four innings during his playoff debut against the Padres last weekend.

He struck out six. The Padres succeeded in fouling off a whopping 30 pitches in Misiorowski’s four innings, driving up his pitch count and leading to an early exit. Both runs scored in the second, an inning that featured that featured three straight singles with one out. The inning could have turned into a disastrous one after first baseman Jake Bauers tried and failed to get an out at home on a grounder., but Misiorowski was able to prevent further damage by getting Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado to ground out. Misiorowski figures to get the ball again in Game 5 if the NLDS goes the distance.

No surprise here. Brewers manager Pat Murphy confirmed that fellow youngster Logan Henderson will get the ball for Game 2. Misiorowski made the leap from hard-throwing rookie phenom to full-fledged front-of-the-rotation superstar this season with a microscopic 1.80 ERA, 0.80 WHIP and 252/44 K/BB ratio across 174 2/3 innings over 30 starts. He’ll spearhead Milwaukee’s pitching staff when they open up postseason play against either the Padres or Cubs later this week.

In his final start before the postseason, Misiorowski picked up his 16th win and struck out five against two walks. It was a remarkable first full campaign for the 24-year-old, and he finishes the regular season with a 1.90 ERA and a remarkable 252/44 K/BB ratio over 174 2/3 innings. He’ll start Game 1 of the NLDS, either against the Cubs or Padres.

It figured that at least one of Misiorowski’s final two starts would be a short one, and he was pulled after allowing only one baserunner and throwing 44 pitches tonight. The outing lowered his ERA ever so slightly to 1.86. He’s expected to go longer Saturday against the Cardinals and then make a Game 1 start in the NLDS.

Nick Gonzales did Misiorowski a big favor in the fourth, when he had a bad read and decided against trying to score on a groundball single that deflected into the outfield. Ryan O’Hearn saw the ball and assumed Gonzales would keep going, so he was thrown out between second and third. It should have been a 1-1 game with runners on the corners and one out at that point. Instead, Misiorowski escaped the jam without any damage, and he got the win in spite of a rather quick hook after 82 pitches. He’s 15-5 with a 1.89 ERA. Next up for him is probably in start in Philly on Tuesday, unless the Brewers would prefer to have him make a shorter start on four days’ rest Sunday against the Orioles.

Misirowski threw fastballs on 63 of his 93 pitches and topped out at 104.5 mph before exiting with the scored tied 1-1 tonight. All nine of his strikeouts came on the heater. He’s up to 236 strikeouts for the season, which is the highest total for an NL starter since Spencer Strider came in at 281 in 2023. He should make his next start next Tuesday against the Pirates.

Misiorowski didn’t have it in this start from the jump. He walked Pete Crow-Armstrong to start this game with four straight balls after getting ahead 0-2 on him and then Alex Bregman made him pay just after with a two-run homer. The second inning wasn’t much better as Misiorowski tossed 31 pitches and the Cubs brought home three more runs. For the first time in a while, his command was all over the place as he missed spot after spot. His fastball didn’t even have a 40% zone rate and by his second time around the Cubs’ lineup, he was leading with his cutter. That pitch was erratic too and Misiorowski looked more like the pitcher we saw on his worst days during his rookie season than who he’s become this year. Nevertheless, he’ll have a chance to right the ship against these same Cubs next time out.

Misiorowski punched out six batters on the night while issuing a pair of walks. All of the damage done against him came in the fifth inning as Jared Young smacked an RBI double and scored on an RBI single off the bat of Christopher Morel. The 24-year-old right-hander generated 12 swings and misses on 89 pitches in the ballgame — half of those on his fastball — while posting a CSW of 26 percent. Now 14-5 on the season, he’ll carry a pristine 1.73 ERA, 0.75 WHIP and a 222/35 K/BB ratio (151 innings) into Wednesday’s divisional showdown against the Cubs at Wrigley Field.