The Dodgers haven’t exactly been cashing in at the plate this October, but they may have found something just as valuable: a way to make Jacob Misiorowski sweat.
Los Angeles is just 2-for-22 with runners in scoring position through its first five postseason games, and both of those hits came from Andy Pages. One of them came Sunday night in Game 1, a harmless-looking bouncer through the right side that still managed to stir up Misiorowski. It didn’t win the game for the Dodgers, but it did deepen the uneasy feeling that his electric stuff may not play quite the same when postseason hitters stop chasing and start chipping away.
That concern already surfaced in his first October outing against the San Diego Padres. Misiorowski was effective enough to miss bats, striking out six and walking one over four innings, but it was a grind from the start.
He allowed four hits, needed 88 pitches, and never really settled in. On paper, the fastball looks like the kind of weapon that should overwhelm anybody.
In practice, the Padres showed that patience can crack the code. The Dodgers watched that unfold and then took the same approach in the second inning on Sunday after Misiorowski breezed through the first.
Shohei Ohtani drew a walk as Misiorowski’s command wobbled between innings. Teoscar Hernández followed by sending one to right without trying to yank it.
Pages then chopped the ball into the hole on purpose, and the dugout reaction from Miguel Rojas made the point plain: the Dodgers had a plan, they stuck to it, and they got exactly what they wanted. Misiorowski still escaped the inning with a double play, but the damage to his evening kept piling up.
By the time his night ended, he had thrown 94 pitches in 13 outs, with three walks to show for it.
The pressure didn’t stop with Misiorowski. DL Hall got through the fifth on only four pitches, but Milwaukee’s higher-leverage group had to pick up heavier work. Abner Uribe threw 15 pitches, Aaron Ashby 26, and Trevor Megill 19.
Megill, in particular, looked vulnerable as his inning wore on. Max Muncy opened by getting ahead 2-0, then took a slider for a strike before lifting a hanger.
After that, the breaker wasn’t doing him much good. He kept spiking it in the dirt against Kyle Tucker, who helped run up Misiorowski’s pitch count himself, and Josue De Paula, who reacted with a head shake and a little swagger.
When Mookie Betts finished the frame with a medium-depth fly, it felt like Megill had gotten away with one.
That’s been part of the story for the Dodgers in their 3-2 start to the postseason. The clutch hits haven’t come in bunches, but they’ve kept moving because the pitching has held and the power has shown up when needed.
At some point, the quality at-bats should start turning traffic on the bases into more runs. Until then, the arms and the home run threat are still carrying plenty of weight.
Game 1 also set up a very different look for what comes next. The Dodgers forced Milwaukee’s bullpen to do real work, which matters heading into Game 2 tonight. And the next time Misiorowski appears against them is likely to come in Game 5 at Dodger Stadium, with the numbers and the mechanical concerns both adding up.
Sunday night didn’t settle the series. It just gave the Dodgers a subtle edge underneath the surface, and a little more reason to believe Misiorowski can be worn down.
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