Jacob Misiorowski’s night started with a jolt and ended with a flourish.
The Brewers’ All-Star right-hander gave up two home runs before recording his eighth out Tuesday in Game 1 of a doubleheader at Busch Stadium, but he quickly found his rhythm and finished with 11 strikeouts over seven innings in Milwaukee’s 4-3 win over the Cardinals.
Jordan Walker opened the scoring by turning a cutter into a two-run homer in the first inning, and Iván Herrera added a solo shot in the third on a 102.4 mph fastball. It was the first time in Misiorowski’s young career that he had allowed multiple homers in back-to-back outings.
Even so, he shut the door after that. Misiorowski retired the final 14 batters he faced in a 103-pitch outing, giving the Brewers exactly the kind of response they needed after he had surrendered the fourth and fifth homers against him in his last three starts against the Cubs, Reds and Cardinals. Before that stretch, he had gone 11 straight starts without allowing a home run and gave up only three extra-base hits during that run.
Milwaukee had to climb out of two different holes to make sure the comeback matched the pitching. The Brewers erased deficits of 2-0 and 3-2, then took the lead for good when Christian Yelich lined a go-ahead double in the seventh for his third hit of the day.
Misiorowski came back out for the bottom of the inning and kept rolling, piling up his 10th and 11th strikeouts in a fourth straight 1-2-3 frame. He even touched 103.4 mph on his 102nd pitch.
The velocity numbers were eye-opening, too. His 57 pitches at 100.0-plus mph tied for the second most by any pitcher in the pitch tracking era, which began in 2008. The only outing ahead of it was his own 58-pitch performance at 100.0-plus mph in his June 12 gem against the Phillies.
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