MILWAUKEE -- Jacob Misiorowski’s first inning began with the fastest fastball on record in the postseason.
His second inning was a long slog.
His third and fourth innings were more like it.
And by the fifth, his first career postseason start was over.
Regular-season success doesn’t guarantee anything in October, as the 24-year-old Brewers ace could attest after working hard for four innings against a battle-tested Padres lineup on Saturday in the Brewers 3-2 win in Game 1 of the National League Division Series at American Family Field.
The night began with 104.8 mph heat from Misiorowski to Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr., breaking Padres closer Mason Miller’s record for the fastest pitch in the postseason during the pitch tracking era, which began in 2008. Misiorowski struck out a pair in a scoreless first that provided the first clues of the Padres’ approach against the presumptive NL Cy Young Award winner.
Fight off the fastball and wait for something softer.
The Padres fouled off eight pitches in Misiorowski’s 25-pitch first, then continued to make him work while scoring two runs in a 33-pitch second inning. The Padres scored with three straight one-out singles on cutters and sliders, and a misplayed fielder’s choice grounder to first baseman Jake Bauers. Along the way, the Brewers stirred their bullpen for the first time.
It was not how Milwaukee drew up Game 1 after a weeklong break.
“Miz was electric in the first inning, command was a little bit wacky,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said in an in-game interview. “But he got through it very easily and all of a sudden, obviously his velocity dipped in the second inning. He couldn’t control his heater. We were concerned about him. We can’t let the game get out of hand.”
Misiorowski responded by pulling back on the fastball velocity in the third and fourth innings, keeping the Padres at bay while the Brewers tied the game at 2-2 on Jackson Chourio’s third-inning home run.
But by the end of the fourth, Misiorowski was already at 88 pitches. That was enough for Murphy and his pitching coaches, who made the call to Milwaukee’s rested bullpen for veteran right-hander Antonio Senzatela.
Misiorowski’s final line: Four innings, four hits, two earned runs, one walk and six strikeouts. Of his 88 pitches, there were 60 fastballs, 28 swings at the fastball and only four fastball whiffs. Instead, the Padres fouled off pitch after pitch. Their 30 foul balls were the most in the first four innings of a postseason game in the pitch tracking era.