Miz breaks an Opening Day K record set the day before he was born

MILWAUKEE -- Maybe serving up a leadoff home run was just the thing Jacob Misiorowski needed to lock it in on Opening Day.

The Brewers’ 23-year-old fireballer rebounded from White Sox second baseman Chase Meidroth’s leadoff shot by striking out the next three batters in the first inning and running the total to 10 strikeouts by the end of the fourth, setting and then extending a Brewers franchise record for a season opener in Milwaukee’s 14-2 win over the White Sox at American Family Field.

It began a day that could not have not gone much better for the Brewers, who took the lead with William Contreras’ bases-clearing double in the second inning and got home runs from Sal Frelick and Jake Bauers on the way to scoring double-digit runs on Opening Day for the first time since 1999 -- and pushing to within one run of the club record for runs scored on Day 1.

Misiorowski set a dominant tone in his 15th career Major League start, allowing that lone run on two hits in five innings with three walks and 11 strikeouts on a record-setting day. The club mark of eight Opening Day strikeouts was originally set by Ben Sheets the day before Misiorowski was born in 2002, then tied by Freddy Peralta in both 2024 and ‘25.

At 23 years and 357 days old, Misiorowski is the youngest pitcher to log double-digit strikeouts on Opening Day since Mariners phenom Félix Hernández in 2007, when he struck out 12 at 20 years, 359 days old.

When Misiorowski logged strikeout No. 11 in the fifth, he became the seventh-youngest pitcher with double-digit strikeouts on Opening Day since 1900, older than only:

• Cleveland’s Bob Feller in 1939 (20 years, 169 days)
• Reds’ Gary Nolan in 1969 (20 years, 315 days)
• Mariners’ Hernández in 2007 (20 years, 359 days)
• Cleveland’s Gary Bell in 1960 (23 years, 154 days)
• Dodgers’ Don Drysdale in 1960 (23 years, 264 days)
• Cleveland’s Herb Score in 1957 (23 years, 313 days)

The Brewers would love to see Misiorowski develop into a pitcher like Sheets or Hernández or Feller or Drysdale, and he was off to a good start last season when he burst onto the big league scene with five starts so electric they earned Misiorowski the earliest invitation to an All-Star Game on record.

He struggled down the stretch but re-emerged in October as a postseason bullpen ace. This spring, when the Brewers lost Quinn Priester to the injured list (right thoracic outlet syndrome) and determined that Brandon Woodruff would need more time to build his pitch count, they tabbed Misiorowski as the third-youngest Opening Day starter in franchise history.

“He’s been through a lot already,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “My expectations are for him to mature. Continue to relentlessly pursue being good. Don’t make excuses. Don’t doubt himself. Harness his stuff, keep learning. He’s got a long way to go.

“And next year at this time, I’m going to be saying the same thing.”