Jacob Misiorowski wasted no time turning American Family Field into a showcase for pure power.
The Brewers right-hander carved through the Rockies over five dominant innings in Milwaukee’s 11-2 win, striking out 12 while allowing one run on one hit. He didn’t issue a walk, hit one batter and threw 59 of his 83 pitches for strikes as the Brewers held a 3-1 lead when he was done.
The first inning set the tone in a hurry. Misiorowski punched out the side while firing 14 four-seam fastballs, producing five whiffs and never letting that pitch dip below 102.9 mph. His hardest offering of the inning reached 104.3 mph.
The second inning looked even more like a rerun. He struck out the side again, giving him six straight strikeouts to open the game. Then came the third, when he fanned his seventh consecutive batter and set a Brewers franchise record for strikeouts to begin a game.
Colorado’s first ball in play against him didn’t come until there was one out in the third. By the time the fourth inning ended, Misiorowski had retired all 12 hitters he faced and struck out 11 of them. That made him the first pitcher since at least the start of the divisional era in 1969 to pile up 11 strikeouts without allowing a hit through the first four innings of a game.
The Rockies had almost no success against his fastball, which he leaned on relentlessly. Misiorowski threw 66 four-seam fastballs, good for 80 percent of his pitches after entering the day using the pitch nearly 63 percent of the time. Eight of his strikeouts came on pitches clocked at 103 mph or faster, the most in a game since pitch tracking began in 2008.
Colorado finally broke through in the fifth. Cole Carrigg launched a 101.9 mph fastball just over the left-field wall for an opposite-field home run, ending Misiorowski’s perfect-game, no-hit and shutout bids after he had retired the first 14 hitters, 12 by strikeout.
Misiorowski hit the next batter, then got a groundout to limit the damage. He needed just 53 pitches to get through his first four innings, but the fifth cost him 30 more, and Chad Patrick began warming in the Milwaukee bullpen. With the Brewers watching his workload closely in the second half, manager Pat Murphy pulled the 24-year-old there.
In Other News...
Brewers Face Another Unsettling Roster Turn As Outfield Concern Grows
The Brewers kept moving pieces around again this week, and there was at least some good news mixed in with the churn. Milwaukee went 4-2 behind a big stretch from Jacob Misiorowski, who piled up 18 strikeouts over nine innings, while Cooper Pratt stayed hot at the plate with a .500 average and two homers. On the roster front, David Hamilton is back after missing a little more than two weeks with a strained hamstring, and DL Hall and Brandon Lockridge both headed out on rehab assignments with Triple-A Nashville.
Still, the outfield picture is getting harder to ignore. Sal Frelick has been shut down from baseball activities for at least a week because of a right shoulder strain, leaving his timetable uncertain, while the pitching staff continues to inch forward with Joel Kuhnel and Kyle Harrison both making progress in their recoveries. For a club that has already been forced to shuffle infield and pitching depth, the next few days could tell the Brewers a lot about how much more patchwork they can tolerate before another move becomes unavoidable. [Read more 🡒]
Brewers Just Made Detroits Ace Dilemma Feel A Lot More Real
The Brewers have spent enough time building one of the stronger farm systems in the sport that they now have a different kind of trade chip to work with, and that matters if they decide the rotation needs a real jolt. Rather than simply hunting for the best arm available, Milwaukee could use prospects to help offset a hefty contract, making a pricey starter more realistic without blowing up the payroll picture.
That is why names like Tarik Skubal, Robbie Ray and Kevin Gausman keep surfacing in the conversation, with Detroit serving as the clearest example of how such a deal could be structured. If the Brewers decide the big swing is too steep, they still have lower-cost rental options to consider, but the broader question is whether this turns into a deadline push with real ambition or a quieter move that keeps the long-term plan intact. [Read more 🡒]
Brewers Linked To A Deadline Ace Fans Never Expected
Tarik Skubal has become one of the most intriguing names on the trade board as the deadline approaches, and the Brewers have been pulled into the conversation in a way few would have predicted. The buzz comes from The Athletics Jim Bowden, whose analysis pointed to the Detroit left-hander as a fit for Milwaukee, a club that could use another front-line arm to pair with Jacob Misiorowski and deepen a rotation that already has some real upside.
Skubals appeal is obvious: he has pitched well when healthy, and his contract situation makes him the kind of player contenders can dream on if they are willing to pay the price. He also comes with a medical history worth watching, having returned in six weeks after a procedure to remove loose bodies from his pitching elbow, and that only adds another layer to a deadline chase that feels more speculative than certain right now. [Read more 🡒]
