'We battled': Buccos succumb to Misiorowski's torrid heat

PITTSBURGH -- Jacob Misiorowski has carved through plenty of lineups en route to a National League Cy Young-worthy season. He entered Tuesday night at PNC Park with a 14-5 record and an NL-best 1.95 ERA.

Pittsburgh has proven to be one of the league’s top offenses. But Misiorowski’s performance only bolstered his candidacy.

The Pirates fell, 5-1, to the Brewers on Tuesday as Misiorowski threw five scoreless innings while lowering his season ERA to 1.89. Pittsburgh mustered five hits against Milwaukee’s flamethrower but couldn’t get a run across after a baserunning blunder in the fourth inning.

“How in-depth do you want to get?” said Brandon Lowe, who recorded his 30th homer of the season off lefty DL Hall but struck out twice against the Miz. “Low release, guy throws 104 [mph], he’s 7 1/2 feet of extension. And it’s not like he’s throwing the ball down the middle. He’s hitting corners. He’s throwing a slider at 98, a curveball at 90. He’s got good stuff. There’s a reason he’s having the season that he’s having. Everybody seems to struggle hitting him.”

Misiorowski owned a 2.00 ERA with 25 strikeouts in three career starts against the Pirates.

“It's a challenge every time Miz takes the mound,” manager Don Kelly said pregame. “We got to be ready for the velo. Obviously, there's a lot made of that. He's been efficient. He's in the zone … you can't go up there and just try to outslug him.”

The Pirates didn’t get anything going from the jump, as Misiorowski needed only 12 pitches, including a fastball at 103.8 mph, to retire the side in order. Pittsburgh then put some stress on the young right-hander, but still couldn’t manufacture anything across.

In the second inning, a walk and a hit from Pittsburgh ballooned his pitch count by 25. The Pirates put a run in scoring position, though Spencer Horwitz flied out to left field to end the inning.

Misiorowski’s blazing fastball is apparent to all who watch. Though his offspeed pitches make him even more difficult to hit. He threw just three curveballs, inducing a strikeout of Konnor Griffin and a swinging strike of Brandon Lowe. Misiorowski’s 10 sliders resulted in six strikes. Of course, his fastball still was world-class. Misiorowski hit 100-plus mph 43 times, with multiple 99.9 tosses mixed in too.

The Pirates did have a chance to score against Misiorowski in the fourth inning. With runners at first and second and one out, Rafael Flores Jr. chopped a single through the infield that hit off the glove of third baseman David Hamilton and past shortstop Joey Ortiz.

Third base coach Tony Beasley held up Nick Gonzales rounding third base, not seeing the ball reach the outfield. The mistake came as Ryan O’Hearn rounded second for third, and O’Hearn was caught up between the bases as Gonzales stayed put at third. Pittsburgh’s golden opportunity went awry, Beasley took responsibility for holding up Gonzales postgame, coming into the clubhouse to speak with the media.

“It was a big play in the game. Obviously, with Miz on the mound, we know runs are at a premium, so we had an opportunity to score a run,” Beasley said. “I probably had the worst view on that play to anybody in the house from the third base coach's box. I see a third baseman dive, and from my vantage, the ball hit his glove and disappeared.”

“Yeah, it's tough,” Gonzales added. “Obviously, you want to score. And playing against a really good pitcher, scoring runs is tough on that guy. So I was upset and frustrated, but Beasley couldn't see it, and that's not his fault.”​

Milwaukee added four more runs in the sixth to make it a 5-0 advantage. Pittsburgh couldn’t get any runs across until the eighth on Lowe’s solo shot, and the Miz rolled to his 15th win of the year.

“We battled, man,” Kelly said. “I think that he's really tough -- as we know in the velo -- and when he's throwing the breaking ball over the plate and getting swing and miss.”