LOS ANGELES -- Jacob Misiorowski was entertaining a quartet of Japanese reporters on Friday when the topic inevitably turned to the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani.
How would Misiorowski approach the global superstar when they squared off again on Saturday afternoon?
Misiorowski didn’t bother with playing coy.
“He knows what I’m going to do. I’m going to throw a heater,” said Misiorowski, who’s armed with arguably the best heater in baseball right now. “He’s going to hit it or he’s not going to hit it. We’re going to see."
Misiorowski vs. Ohtani was a must-see event every time they met in the Brewers' 4-1 win at Dodger Stadium, when Misiorowski’s fastball sizzled for six innings, but it was the slider that neutralized Ohtani in the biggest moment of a sun-splashed matchup of teams with the National League’s top two records.
Brewers catcher William Contreras emerged from an 0-for-20 slump with two hits, including a two-run home run, Joey Ortiz also hit a two-run shot and left-hander Aaron Ashby delivered a two-inning save to back Misiorowski, who didn’t post the gaudy strikeout numbers we’ve come to expect, but conjured them when he needed them most in an assertive six-inning outing in which he allowed one run on five hits with one walk and six strikeouts.
“It proved to everyone out there this guy can pitch,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “He executed pitches. If you’re wondering if he’s mature yet, that’ll tell you a lot right there.”
As promised, Misiorowski came out firing fastballs at Ohtani leading off the game. He threw six four-seamers in a row during their first matchup, the first at 103.7 mph and the last at 103.8 mph for a swinging strike three, with a 104.2 mph fastball along the way. That single at-bat featured Misiorowski’s five fastest pitches of the day.
Misiorowski retired the first seven Dodgers hitters on the day before Alex Call reached on an infield single that left his bat at 37.2 mph, according to Statcast, and Ohtani got revenge by hitting a 100.3 fastball into the ground for a run-scoring triple that took a big hop over the head of Brewers first baseman Gary Sánchez and traveled into the right-field corner to cut Milwaukee’s lead to 2-1.
But the best of this matchup came with the Brewers leading 4-1 in the fifth, when three straight one-out singles from the bottom of the Dodgers’ order brought Ohtani to the plate as the go-ahead run, and the crowd to its feet.
Contreras approached the mound and pitching coach Chris Hook followed. Together they developed a plan: Feature the slider this time. Misiorowski embraced the idea.
“I was looking for a ground ball, to be honest with you,” Misiorowski said. “Get the slider down and get a ground ball.”
“For me, the slider was the best pitch for him today,” Contreras said. “The fastball’s obviously the fastball, but I think receiving it, I had the slider over the curveball today. Credit to Misiorowski. He went out there, was himself, and does what he does.”
Instead of firing fastballs, Misiorowski pitched. He executed a slider for a swinging strike one, followed by a 102.4 mph fastball for a called strike two. That left Ohtani guessing what would come next, and Misiorowski went back to the slider for a swinging strike three that offered a path to escaping the inning. He then struck out Freddie Freeman with another well-executed slider to end the threat. Misiorowski let out a roar.
"It's one of those things that you’ve got to defend against the fastball, and when he has that slider that is presented as a strike, it's just tough to not offer,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “That's why he's arguably the best in baseball."
Said Misiorowski: “That was all William. William took control and saw something, and we all adjusted."
He threw one more scoreless inning to cap the outing, lowering his Major League-leading ERA to 1.75 and boosting his Major League-leading strikeout total to 210. Misiorowski also leads the league’s qualifiers in opponents’ average, WHIP, strikeout rate, strikeouts per nine innings, strikeout-to-walk ratio and hits per nine innings.
In other words, he remains the front-runner in a field of National League Cy Young Award contenders that also includes the Braves’ Chris Sale, the Reds’ Chase Burns, the Phillies’ Cristopher Sánchez and the Dodgers’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
It was his second career start against the Dodgers (Misiorowski outdueled Clayton Kershaw at American Family Field last July), and Misiorowski’s second career appearance at Dodger Stadium, having delivered five quality innings in relief with nine strikeouts in Game 3 of last year’s NL Championship Series. That outing came amid a series of electric postseason relief appearances after Misiorowski slumped to the end of the regular season as a starter.
Looking back, all of Misiorowski's success this season started there.
“That was the real turning point last year,” Misiorowski said. “I went through the struggles at the end of the year and really battled through it. Then the postseason rolled around, I had the success, and kind of brought it into this year. I’m still on that momentum, I would say.”
It didn’t stop Saturday. In his first three career outings against the Dodgers, regular season and postseason, he’s allowed four runs (three earned) in 17 innings with three walks and 27 strikeouts.
"I always love when you get adrenaline and the crowd gets into it,” he said. “Pitching at Dodger Stadium, it's a lot of fun. There's a little bit more juice. You're in their home and it's fun."
There will surely be more Misiorowski-Ohtani matchups to come.
Perhaps in October, should the teams meet again.
"It's fantastic. I hope that we can give Jacob as much credit and publicity as possible,” Roberts said. “He's a great kid. He's great for the game. What he did today, what they see every time he pitches, you just don't see it. Guys like him, and obviously guys like Shohei, the game's in a great spot."