BOSTON – Jacob Misiorowski went toe-to-toe with Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet for parts of six innings, mowing through Boston's order with 10 strikeouts among the 24-year-old Brewers right-hander’s first 16 outs recorded. He was cruising. And judging from the emotion that poured out of him between innings, he was loving it.
Until, suddenly, he wasn’t.
Misiorowski’s command vanished into the cold night with one out in the sixth. After 55 of his first 88 pitches found the strike zone, 12 of the last 13 pitches missed. He walked Jarren Duran and Willson Contreras in succession on eight pitches. Following a mound visit, Misiorowski went 3-and-0 on Wilyer Abreu before walking him, too.
And just like that, a special night had turned sour. Misiorowski yielded to left-hander DL Hall and watched from the dugout as all three runners scored.
It ruined what had started as one of the most dominant of Misiorowski’s 18 Major League outings so far. He struck out the first five batters who dug into the batter’s box against him, and faced the minimum until Contreras lined a single over the second baseman for Boston’s first hit with two outs in the bottom of the fourth.
Misiorowski shrugged that off and continued matching Crochet, zero for zero. When he surrendered a two-out single and hit Connor Wong with a two-out, two-strike curveball in the fifth inning, Misiorowski retired Isiah Kiner-Falefa on a bouncer to second base to end that threat. He was at 83 pitches at that point, and his fastball was holding around 98 mph.
An inning later, the outing fell apart.