MILWAUKEE – Here’s the craziest thing about the performance of the year in Major League Baseball, and maybe the greatest game for any player – certainly the greatest game for any pitcher – in the 58 seasons of Brewers franchise history.
Jacob Misiorowski didn’t think he had the goods.
What he did have was another night on the mound like no one has ever witnessed before. It was a perfect game but for Kyle Schwarber’s fourth-inning single. It was a 95-pitch shutout and a “Maddux” – if Greg Maddux could throw 104.5 mph and strike out 15 with ease like the 24-year-old 6-foot-7 right-hander did in Friday’s 6-0 Brewers win over the Phillies.
“This is not a normal pitcher,” said Brewers catcher William Contreras. “I think he can go out there and throw 100 fastballs and get through a game.”
Imagine what Misiorowski might be able to do on a night he’s really feeling it.
“To be honest,” Misiorowski said, “the first inning, first few innings, I feel like I didn’t have it all that well. I was just hoping they would swing.”
So what did he do?
He threw hard.
“I think I was trying to overcompensate,” Misiorowski said.
Swing the Phillies did, electrifying a sellout crowd of 40,205 from Misiorowski’s leadoff strikeout against Schwarber on a 104.5 mph fastball. It was the fastest pitch from a starter since pitch tracking began in 2008. Then Misiorowski struck out Trea Turner at 103.5 mph and Bryce Harper at 104.1 mph. Three swinging strikeouts against three superstars, and the three fastest strikeout pitches for a starter in the pitch tracking era, including the postseason.
Misiorowski was just getting started on the one-year anniversary of his Major League debut.
Schwarber’s single leading off the fourth inning was the only blemish on a remarkable outing in which Misiorowski set a career high with 15 strikeouts – most in the Majors this season – in the Brewers’ first complete-game shutout since Brandon Woodruff blanked the Marlins nearly three years ago.
Misiorowski finished what he started on 95 pitches (74 strikes) and logged the most strikeouts in a so-called Maddux – a shutout on fewer than 100 pitches – since records of pitch counts began in 1988. Tarik Skubal struck out 13 in his own Maddux last year to set that mark.
Misiorowski threw 58 triple-digit fastballs, including 31 at 102-plus, both new marks for the pitch-tracking era. It continued a stretch in which he has a 0.17 ERA in his past eight outings. If you exclude openers, that’s the lowest ERA in any eight-start span since earned runs became an official stat in 1913.
“You know, I try to put myself in the shoes of the other [team’s] hitters, and it’s hard to do,” said Contreras, who has ushered Misiorowski through all but six of his 28 Major League starts over the past year. “I would imagine it’s extremely different when you have a pitcher who is almost 7 feet in height, 8 feet of extension and throws the ball 105 mph. I’m really happy he’s on our side.”
Technically, it was not quite 105 mph.
But you can’t blame Contreras for rounding up.
“For me, personally, that was as good as it gets,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “In the Major Leagues, to pitch a game like that against an offense like that, that’s that capable, with all of those All-Stars over there, incredible. …
“Amazing young man, he really is. Forrest Gump-like, you know what I mean? He’s amazingly real, naive to a lot of things, and it’s beautiful. He goes out and lets it eat.”
What might have inspired the extra edge on Misiorowski’s already angry fastball? Remember, it was the Phillies who raised the loudest objections last July when Major League Baseball invited Misiorowski to the All-Star Game with just five starts under his belt. They felt the honor should have gone to their teammate, left-hander Cristopher Sánchez.
Now those two aces are at it again. Misiorowski went 5-0 with a 0.23 ERA in May and didn’t win NL Player of the Month honors because Sánchez, who is scheduled to start Sunday’s series finale between these teams, pitched to a 0.00 ERA in five starts for the Phillies. Misiorowski shrugged off his runner-up finish, and on Friday night he downplayed any suggestion of bad blood.
“It’s about the same as the Yankees, the Dodgers, any of those big-market teams,” Misiorowski said. “You want to throw well against them. That adds adrenaline to it, too.”
It was dominance from the very first strikeout against Schwarber. Home plate umpire Chad Fairchild ruled it a foul tip that settled into Contreras’ glove, and while that was open for debate – Schwarber sure did, vehemently – it looked to clip the strike zone regardless. Either way, it was the first out of an opening inning in which Misiorowski went three up, three down with three strikeouts – and the three fastest strikeout pitches ever tracked from a starter. Misiorowski also had the old mark (103.4 mph on May 25 against the Cardinals).
With Friday’s first inning, he now holds the top 10 spots.
“It’s awesome. Honestly, that’s really cool,” Misiorowski said. “But I think there’s always another step to go with it. Keep pushing it.”
Why not? The fastest overall pitch in the pitch tracking era is 105.8 mph by then-Reds reliever Aroldis Chapman on Sept. 24, 2010. The hardest strikeout pitch is 105.5 mph by Angels reliever Ben Joyce on Sept. 3, 2024.
Brewers owner Mark Attanasio watched that first inning from a suite at American Family Field because he and wife Debbie were visiting with players’ wives and families. He was in his usual spot next to the dugout for the second inning and didn’t budge after that.
No one did.
“It was two hours and four minutes, sure, but after the game, nobody left,” Attanasio said. “Miz did his interview [for Brewers.tv], and the entire stadium was still there, standing. I don’t remember that in my 22 seasons.”
One of the best things about it, Attanasio said, was that Misiorowski’s mom was in the ballpark. She was not planning to be, but she was working out on Friday morning with Jacob’s fiancée's mom, and they decided on a whim to drive up from Kansas City.
She was glad she did.
"Oh, yeah, are you kidding me? That was amazing," Crystal Misiorowski said. "I feel blessed to be here."
Her son wasn’t content to make his point against the Phillies with one good inning.
He went 1-2-3 in the second on nine pitches, all strikes, denied an immaculate inning by Alec Bohm’s groundout for the second out of the inning.
Through the third, Misiorowski was nine up, nine down with eight strikeouts. When Schwarber knocked a clean single leading off the fourth, Misiorowski responded by striking out Turner for the second time and getting an inning-ending double play from Harper to get back on track to facing the minimum number of hitters required.
Inning after electric inning, he stayed there.
Misiorowski had his ninth career double-digit strikeout game and sixth this season by the fifth inning. That’s when he finally started to feel right.
“The lower half started locking in,” Misiorowski said.
Misiorowski matched his career high with his 12th strikeout in the sixth and set a new high with his 13th in the seventh. In the eighth, Misiorowski's 14th strikeout tied him with the Angels' Reid Detmers (May 24 vs. the Rangers) and the Mariners' Emerson Hancock (May 2 vs. the Royals) for MLB's single-game high this season. In the ninth, Misiorowski completed the job for the Brewers’ first complete game since Woodruff’s shutout in a 12-0 win over the Marlins on Sept. 11, 2023, in this ballpark.
It was the Brewers’ first complete game of one hit or fewer since Hall of Famer CC Sabathia’s unforgettable start in Pittsburgh on Aug. 31, 2008, when an infield single that Sabathia and the Brewers believed should have been ruled an error stood as the only hit.
Of course, Misiorowski finished the night with strikeout No. 15, matching Corbin Burnes (Aug. 11, 2021) for second most in Brewers history. Only Ben Sheets (18 strikeouts against the Braves on May 16, 2004) had more.
Misiorowski’s 15 strikeouts tied for the most by a pitcher in a game in which he faced the minimum since at least 1900, with the Orioles’ Erik Bedard on July 7, 2007. Bedard allowed two hits that day. Misiorowski allowed one.
“Obviously, a unique fastball,” said Schwarber. “It feels like you try to adjust to different things, and it just kind of finds a way around you.”
That was the case all the way through the ninth inning, which might have been even more remarkable than the first. Misiorowski got three outs on nine pitches. Eight were fastballs, all 100.8 mph and up. The last two pitches of the night – Nos. 94 and 95 – were swinging strikes to Phillies center fielder Justin Crawford at 103.4 mph and 103.1 mph.
“It’s a lot of work from people behind me and in the training room and the weight room and all that,” Misiorowski said. “They’ve helped a lot. Most of all has been William back there. He’s the one who has been coaching me through these games and really making it happen.”
The admiration is mutual. It was Contreras behind the plate for Misiorowski’s debut exactly one year earlier, when he burst onto the scene with five-plus scoreless innings against the Cardinals. Contreras was also there during the second half, when Misiorowski struggled so mightily with command that he lost his spot in the rotation, and barely won a spot in the Brewers’ bullpen for the postseason.
“It’s fast. It’s very fast, but he’s got a plan now,” Contreras said. “He knows what he wants to do. He studies hitters and he knows how he wants to execute his plan. He’s not a thrower anymore. He’s a pitcher.”
The rest of the league has taken note.
“Marshy asked me after the game,” said Harper, referring to the Phillies’ Brandon Marsh, “he's like, ‘That's probably the best guy I've ever faced.’ And he asked me who’s one of the best guys I've ever faced, and I said Matt Harvey. He had that extension heater, and he was one of the first guys that really rode that heater at the top of the zone. Obviously, 104 is a little bit different.”
The Phillies’ star, perhaps with October in mind, saw a silver lining.
“I'm happy we were able to face him – and I'm not saying that in a good way or bad way, but I was just happy we were able to face him and see what that looked like,” Harper said. “He shoved it tonight. Tip your cap and try to go get them tomorrow.”