BALTIMORE - Jacob Misiorowski didn’t leave Sunday’s start against the Orioles because of a problem. He left because the Brewers wanted it that way.
Milwaukee kept its 24-year-old ace on a short leash in a 44-pitch outing at Camden Yards, using the three innings as a controlled reset before what the club expects to be a more standard final start of the regular season against the Cardinals next weekend. Manager Pat Murphy said before the game that the plan was always to make the outing brief, giving Misiorowski a bit of a breather as the Brewers manage him toward the postseason.
The approach isn’t new for Milwaukee. The team has done similar things in Spring Training, trimming starts late in camp before building pitchers back up once the season begins.
Even in a limited outing, Misiorowski showed why he’s sitting atop the National League Cy Young conversation. He worked three scoreless innings, allowed one hit and no walks, and struck out four. His latest sharp performance left him with major league leads in ERA at 1.86, strikeouts at 247, WHIP at 0.80 and opponents’ average at .159.
His first strikeout Sunday also moved him past Corbin Burnes’ 2021 total for second place on the Brewers’ single-season strikeout list. Ben Sheets still owns the franchise record with 264 strikeouts in 2004.
Misiorowski has now thrown 169 1/3 innings this season, which is 28 more than he logged last year between Triple-A Nashville and Milwaukee during the regular season and postseason. The Brewers have been careful with his workload for months, dating back to May and June when he separated himself from the rest of the National League with a run of electric starts that included new velocity standards for a starting pitcher.
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That matters for a club that has been noticeably better at American Family Field, where both the offense and defense have been stronger. Jacob Misiorowski has shown a similar split, with better numbers at home than on the road, which only adds to the sense that a strong finish could pay off in a big way. Milwaukee still needs to stay ahead of the Atlanta Braves to secure that bye to the NL Division Series, so the Brewers' next stretch is about more than just finishing first. [Read more 🡒]
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Misiorowski will be trying to pick up his 16th win of the season against Brandon Young, with Sunday Night Baseball offering the kind of stage that can make a late-September game feel like more than just another stop on the schedule. For a club that has already matched its best mark, the next step is clear, even if the payoff is still just out of view. [Read more 🡒]
Chourio Just Reached Another Historic Milestone Brewers Fans Can't Ignore
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The milestone is even more striking when you put it in historical context, because Chourio is the first player in Major League history to post three 20-20 seasons before turning 23. He also joins a short list as just the 17th player ever to log at least three seasons with 20 or more homers by age 22, which gives Brewers fans a pretty clear sense of how unusual this start really is. [Read more 🡒]