Miz set to kick off Brewers' daunting stretch towards All-Star break

MILWAUKEE -- The Brewers begin a grueling stretch of 18 games scheduled over 17 days on Friday night against the rival Cubs at what will be a sold-out American Family Field. There’s no one else Milwaukee would rather have on the mound.

Jacob Misiorowski is slated to start the series opener, bidding to continue a particularly brilliant stretch of a breakthrough season for the 24-year-old. He enters the series leading the Majors with a 1.45 ERA and 138 strikeouts, including a 0.45 ERA in his nine starts since the beginning of May.

It’s the second time Misiorowski will face the Cubs this season, having delivered six scoreless innings in a win at Wrigley Field on May 19. Does that require any adjustments for a pitcher who challenges hitters with a 104 mph fastball?

“I don’t think there’s much,” Misiorowski said. “I’ll go through and see who’s hot. PCA [Cubs star Pete Crow-Armstrong] has changed his heat map a little bit, so you’ll look at that. But it’s team to team. You maybe focus on a few guys who hit you well the last time and go from there.”

It’s the latest high-profile start for Misiorowski, whose past eight matchups include the Yankees, Padres, Cubs, Cardinals, Phillies and Braves.

He seems to thrive in those types of games.

“I do, yes,” Misiorowski said. “But it’s a hard stretch. It’s good.”

Misiorowski is scheduled to be followed by Kyle Harrison on Saturday and the recently-returned Brandon Woodruff on Sunday, meaning the Brewers have their top three starting pitchers lined up for this series. They will also have another starter, Robert Gasser, available out of the bullpen before he rejoins Milwaukee's rotation in the following series against the Reds. Veteran left-hander Jared Koenig, barring a last-minute change of plans, also should be activated from the injured list for the series opener.

The Cubs, meanwhile, have a staff severely thinned by injury in the midst of their own grueling segment of the schedule, with 14 games over 13 days including Wednesday’s doubleheader against the Mets. Chicago placed two starters who were lined up to pitch in Milwaukee on the injured list on Wednesday: Edward Cabrera with left hamstring and adductor injuries and Ben Brown with a left neck strain -- the latter a particularly big blow because Brown has a 1.85 ERA in 20 games, including eight starts.

Chicago was already without Jameson Taillon (left hamstring strain), Cade Horton (right UCL surgery) and Justin Steele (left elbow flexor strain). They are set to activate left-hander Matthew Boyd from a knee injury on Thursday, but he won’t pitch in the Milwaukee series.

For the Brewers, the coming weeks will represent a similar test. A rainout last month in St. Louis added a doubleheader to the difficulty of what was already 17 consecutive game days against mostly division foes -- at home against the Cubs and Reds, then on the road at the D-backs, Cardinals and Pirates.

Are they ready for a stretch like that? Can any team be ready for a stretch like that?

“It’s a challenge any time you do that,” pitching coach Chris Hook said. “It’s always a grind. [Manager Pat Murphy] always talks about you don’t want to go through it, but sometimes you find out a lot about a team when you go through it. If you turn around that way, it’s like, ‘Let’s see where we’re at. Are we able to do things like this?’”

The team has been planning for this segment of the schedule for months, including inserting extra days for Misiorowski prior to each of his past two starts to get him rested and lined up just the way it wants on the calendar.

It will be a team effort.

“It’s a challenge for the front office, for our medical group and strength and conditioning group and our players, just trying to make sure we’re prepared,” Hook said. “We looked at it before the season, like, ‘This is going to be a tough stretch. What are we going to do to help everybody through it?’”

Misiorowski will lead it all off.

“It’s going to be a long one, and then straight into the All-Star break,” said Misiorowski, who probably won’t get much of a break during the Midsummer Classic in Philadelphia. “But it will be fun. It will be good.”