WASHINGTON – Before Jacob Misiorowski burst onto the big league scene last season, Nationals manager Blake Butera had seen enough of the young hurler in the Minor Leagues to know what the Nationals were going up against on Friday.
Butera had crossed paths with Misiorowski, 24, when he was working in the Rays’ system and the right-hander was coming up in the Brewers’ organization.
Still, the Nationals were stumped by Misiorowski in a 6-1 loss to the Brewers.
“We've faced some really good arms,” said Butera. “... This just felt different.”
Misiorowski dominated in 5 1/3 innings of no-hit baseball before he exited with a right hamstring cramp in the middle of an at-bat against James Wood.
“It felt like one of the best nights of the year so far,” said Misiorowski. “So there's that positive on the night.”
The Nats had no answer for Misiorowski’s arsenal featuring 43 pitches at 100 mph or higher, the third-most in a game in the pitch-tracking era (since 2008) behind only Hunter Greene (47 on Sept. 17, 2022 and 44 on March 30, 2023). Misiorowski looked to be on pace to break that record prior to his departure as he soared through eight strikeouts.
"He's really tough,” said Butera. “Not really sure how anybody hits him. Just the extension, he's sitting 100, 102 [mph] the whole time, and secondary's in the mid 90s -- it's just not an easy at-bat. It's really good stuff. The fact we were able to work a couple walks I thought was a positive. But overall, it's a really tough guy to have success off of."
As much trouble as Misiorowski was giving the Nationals’ offense, the team was worried when the Brewers made a mound visit to check on him. The Nats breathed a collective sigh of relief when they realized it was a lower half injury.
"Whenever you see a trainer go out, you feel for the kid; that's his career on the line,” said Butera. “... You never want to see somebody get hurt. Just glad it wasn't an elbow or something."
In spite of a pitching change, the Nationals were stifled by the Brewers’ bullpen until the bottom of the seventh inning. Aaron Ashby retired Wood, Luis García Jr. and Curtis Mead, then issued a walk to CJ Abrams to keep the no-hitter intact.
Daylen Lile ended the no-hit bid by blooping a double just past a diving Blake Perkins in left field. Abrams scored on a Brady House groundout in the next at-bat.
“I was pretty happy to break up the no-hitter,” Lile said. “I thought that was an inning we were going to get something rolling. We had a lot of good at-bats against Misiorowski, and also we were hitting stuff hard right at people. It was just one of those days.”
Relievers Ashby and Easton McGee limited the Nationals to one run with five strikeouts in 3 2/3 frames to close out the series opener. The Nats dropped to 3-11 in home games this season.
“[Ashby was] really good from the left side, he was up to [98.9],” said Butera. “They just had some really good arms. Between Misiorowski, Ashby and then McGee throwing the ninth, I just thought they threw a lot of good stuff at us tonight.”