MILWAUKEE – “Win tonight” is always going to be atop Pat Murphy’s daily to-do list. But as Jacob Misiorowski took the mound on Monday for the first time after a 13-day extended All-Star break, the Brewers’ manager and his coaches also had a longer-term idea in the back of their minds.
Win it all.
Misiorowski is key to the Brewers’ World Series hopes, and they have some things planned to keep their 6-foot-7, 24-year-old ace in top form the rest of the way, beginning with Monday’s truncated, four-inning, 65-pitch outing in an 8-3 win over the Mets and old friend Freddy Peralta at American Family Field.
“I feel like I was right in the spot I need to be to get ready for the second half,” Misiorowski said.
The fans greeted Peralta and Mets closer Devin Williams warmly during pregame introductions, but Brewers hitters showed no mercy once Peralta took the mound. Cooper Pratt hit his first Major League home run in the second inning, Andrew Vaughn hit a two-run homer in the third and, after the Crew chased Peralta in the sixth, Joey Ortiz smacked a three-run shot to complete Peralta’s messy pitching line: 5 1/3 innings, eight hits, seven runs.
With 100 games in the books, the Brewers are riding a four-game winning streak and sit a season-high 26 games over .500. They finished the day with the best record in the Majors -- a half-game ahead of the Dodgers.
“This feels like us,” Misiorowski said. “It feels good to be back where we should be.”
Misiorowski certainly fared better than his former teammate Peralta, but his outing bore the rust of a long layoff. The Brewers led 5-1 when Misiorowski departed, and the only Mets run was unearned during a typically electric outing in which he scattered four hits, all singles (including a pair of infield singles), walked one and struck out six in his first start since July 7. He’d been scheduled for one more start on July 12, but the Brewers scratched him from that outing, citing arm fatigue.
“I felt like I wasn’t in my legs as well as I should have been,” Misiorowski said. “I felt halfway decent. Good enough.”
“We would have probably let him go forward if his delivery and his legs felt great,” Murphy said, adding, “He didn’t throw a commanded heater past the second inning. He was kind of coming off his legs and getting stuck and trying to get out of it. Concerning.”
Perhaps some of that was to be expected in what amounted to a controlled return to action following a reset for the right-hander that was built around the All-Star break.
“It’s a big discussion. It’s a big topic,” Murphy said before the game when asked about Misiorowski’s workload. “There’s been all sorts of concern, planning, discussion, sidebar discussions about biomechanics, strength testing, all of that. Thus, the reason for the layoff.
“Now, how do we ramp it back up?”
Misiorowski ramped it back up with an electric first inning, starting with a 102.2 mph fastball for strike one to Mets leadoff man A.J. Ewing. It was the next at-bat that really impressed. Against Mets superstar Juan Soto, Misiorowski threw four fastballs at 103.4 mph, 104.0 mph, 103.8 mph and 103.6 mph, getting three swinging strikes along the way for the second out of the game.
“I got to watch him pitch in Houston,” said Brewers newcomer Lance McCullers Jr., who covered three innings in his Milwaukee debut as one of three relievers who followed Misiorowski, “but I was telling him now that he’s on my team -- or I’m on his team, I guess -- it just feels different. He’s an unbelievable talent. He’s blessed. It was really cool to watch him come out tonight, first pitch at 102.2 mph, and just come after guys.”
The outing pushed Misiorowski to 115 innings this season, 26 1/3 innings shy of his total from last year in the Minor Leagues, Major Leagues and postseason combined. There was a time in which teams targeted a 20 percent innings increase year over year. Now, with the benefits of wearable technology and measurements of every movement on the field, they are more sophisticated about developing individualized plans.
So, while we don’t know precisely what kind of innings target the Brewers have in mind, we do know the two primary ways teams can manage that number: Either skip some starts, or keep a pitcher on schedule but employ a quick hook in those outings.
“I think we learn more towards [the latter],” Murphy said. “Keep the consistency.”
Misiorowski says he’s ready for whatever the Brewers have planned.
“In the offseason last year we focused on legs, and doing all that stuff to get myself ready for this track of the year,” he said. “I feel good where I’m at. I’m ready to go.”