Misiorowski K's Oneil at 102.7 mph, tops Skubal for fastest strikeout pitch by a starter

MILWAUKEE – When a pitcher has lit up the radar gun at 104.3 mph in a postseason game, a 102.7 mph fastball in April might seem relatively pedestrian.

But for Jacob Misiorowski, it was something never before recorded by a starting pitcher.

“It felt the same as any other start,” the 24-year-old Brewers right-hander said. “I think that’s just how it is. Normal.”

But it wasn’t normal. Misiorowski came out hot in the Brewers’ 6-3 loss to the Pirates in 10 innings at American Family Field on Saturday, throwing his three hardest pitches of the season to the first batter of the game, Oneil Cruz, and striking him out with a 102.7 mph four-seamer. It represented the fastest strikeout pitch by a starter since pitch tracking began in 2008, unseating Tarik Skubal’s 102.6 mph heater on May 25 of last season.

And Misiorowski was just getting started.

He retired the next Pirates batter, Brandon Lowe, with a 102.2 mph swinging third strike, making Misiorowski the first starter with multiple strikeouts at 120 mph or more in an inning under pitch tracking. He’s only the second pitcher with multiple 102-plus mph strikeouts in a game (the Reds’ Hunter Greene was the other, on Sept. 17, 2022).

And when you add Misiorowski’s 102.0 mph strikeout of Cruz last June 25, he now has three strikeouts on a pitch at 102-plus mph in his career, more than any starting pitcher.

What made Saturday’s start different was how the heat came right from the start. Going into the night, there had been 19 pitches tracked at 102 mph or more in all of the first innings – regular season and postseason – since 2008. Five of those belonged to Misiorowski, including a 102.5 mph fastball against the Marlins in the first inning of his previous start.

He threw five more in Saturday’s first inning – all within his first seven pitches of the game.

“I honestly don’t even know what I hit,” said Misiorowski.

His reaction after being informed?

“OK, cool,” he said.

Misiorowski and Greene, with 12 such pitches apiece, now top the list of starting pitchers who have thrown the most 102-plus mph offerings under pitch tracking, including in the playoffs. Justin Verlander is next with seven, followed by Jordan Hicks with six.

It’s worth noting that the list doesn’t include Misiorowski’s two hardest pitches of his career, a pair of fastballs in excess of 104 mph to the Cubs’ Kyle Tucker in Game 2 of last year’s NLDS. That’s because Misiorowski came out of the bullpen in that outing.

He went on to allow three runs on six hits in six innings and finished with nine strikeouts to reclaim the Major League lead with 51 strikeouts this season. He walked only one batter, and yet a handful of errant offerings cost Misiorowski, who hit the leadoff batter with a pitch in the fourth inning and again in the sixth, and saw both runners come around to score – the latter with help from a wild pitch.

“I didn’t think I hit him,” Misiorowski said of the pivotal hit batsman in the sixth, which the Brewers challenged to no avail. “But somebody in New York says I did, so you move on.”

“The way ‘Miz’ competed today – you know, when the going’s good, he’s good, but the fact that the going wasn’t good [for the team] and he still competed the way he did, I told him I’m really impressed with the way he handled himself,” said manager Pat Murphy. "I think he did a great job today and really proved something to himself.”

Misiorowski was briefly on the hook for the loss before Sal Frelick’s second sacrifice fly of the night tied the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the sixth. But the closest the Brewers came to scoring after that was in the eighth, when Garrett Mitchell missed a home run by inches and settled for a double that hit just below the yellow line running along the top of the outfield wall.

The Brewers – with power threats Jackson Chourio, Christian Yelich and Andrew Vaughn on the injured list – have gone six games without hitting a home run, their longest drought since 2015. They haven’t gone seven games without hitting a homer since 1999.

“The guys that are here, we’re battling through,” Misiorowski said. “We’re trying to survive until we can get those guys back.”

The Brewers have lost four games in a row and 11 of the last 16.

"It’s what we’ve got to deal with,” Murphy said. “It’s part of our character building. Hopefully, it makes us better, that we remember this, how tough it is to win a Major League game.”