MILWAUKEE – Jacob Misiorowski has made pitching look easy for much of his breakthrough season, but the Reds provided a reminder that it’s not always going to be that way.
The budding ace surrendered a pair of home runs for the first time in his last 13 starts and absorbed the loss in the Brewers’ 7-2 loss to the Reds at American Family Field on Thursday, as an anticipated pitchers' duel with Cincinnati’s Chase Burns never really developed.
Misiorowski was charged with five runs (only one was earned) on five hits over five innings, with no walks and 10 strikeouts in his seventh double-digit strikeout performance this season and ninth of his career.
“When you pitch five innings and you punch out 10 and you don’t walk anyone, that’s a pretty darn good outing,” said Brewers manager Pat Murphy. “Every time Miz goes onto the field now, everybody is expecting, like, ‘There’s no way he can give up runs!’"
“Well, call the guy over in Pittsburgh [Paul Skenes] who’s dominated baseball for two years. I’ve seen him pick up awards myself, personally. People go through things. [Misiorowski] did not throw the baseball badly. He wasn’t quite on time with his breaking stuff. But there’s a lot of good in there.”
Four of the runs on Misiorowski’s line were unearned in the fourth inning, when Brewers first baseman Jake Bauers dropped a throw for a costly error to open the frame that extended a Reds rally. Noelvi Marte hit a run-scoring single ahead of Reds catcher Jose Trevino depositing a three-run home run into the left-field corner.
“I think it’s only one pitch I regret, a cutter I spun,” Misiorowski said with a shrug. “Other than that, I felt like I had a pretty good day.”
Trevino’s home run was his first since last June, and with Sal Stewart’s solo homer off a 102.7 mph Misiorowski fastball in the first inning, it was the first time since the Blue Jays homered twice against him on April 14 that Misiorowski surrendered multiple extra-base hits in a game.
How unhittable had he been since then? In his 12 starts between April 14 and Thursday, Misiorowski surrendered only four extra-base hits.
The Stewart home run was its own kind of rarity. Prior to that swing, opponents were 4-for-46 in the regular season and postseason against Misiorowski in at-bats that ended with a pitch at 102-plus mph – including the Elly De La Cruz strikeout to lead off Thursday’s game. The four hits were all infield singles.
“These guys are a good team, and obviously we haven’t had our fair share of wins against them,” Stewart said. “We just wanted to come out and have a nice flight now and try to get on a streak here. I’m just excited, man. It was a good swing. [Misiorowski] is a very, very good pitcher.”
This, however, was a different kind of day. The five runs off Misiorowski – even though four were unearned – matched a career high. The Reds were the last team to score five times off the right-hander, in a start in Cincinnati last August while the Brewers were in the midst of their club-record 14-game winning streak.
Misiorowski was beginning to wilt at that point of his rookie season, and eventually was removed from the rotation and inserted into the bullpen for the postseason. All told, he pitched 141 1/3 meaningful innings between Triple-A and the Brewers, and he’s already at 104 innings this year.
The Brewers are mindful of keeping him in top form for when it matters most in September and potentially October. After Misiorowski had to grind through the fourth, coaches informed him he’d only pitch one more inning, no matter what the score was at that point.
He exited after five innings and 82 pitches in a 5-1 deficit. The Brewers never did get the bats going against Burns and the Cincinnati bullpen.
“Those are ongoing things,” Murphy said of Misiorowski’s workload. “There’s a lot of things going on in our lives as we’re moving from day to day, and those discussions are certainly conversations. We’re planning on having him until the very end.
“One of the things is that he had an extensive Minor League career. There’s been build-up. There’s been ups and downs. But he’s as strong as an ox and he knows what he’s doing.”
As the All-Star break nears, Misiorowski believes he’s right where he should be.
“I feel really good,” Misiorowski said. “I feel in a good spot and ready to go. All thanks to the guys behind the scenes in the training room and weight room. They’ve been great with me. It’s been really fun.”