CHICAGO -- Three times in the first four innings, the Brewers spotted their ace a lead. Twice, Jacob Misiorowski let it get away.
But the third time, he held firm, helping Milwaukee tighten its grip on the NL Central.
Facing one of Major League Baseball’s most potent lineups and fighting his command on another slippery mound on the road, Misiorowski buckled down after the Brewers claimed a one-run lead in the top of the fourth and finished a hard-fought, 92-pitch outing with a scoreless inning that propelled Milwaukee toward a 9-5 win over the Cubs at Wrigley Field on Wednesday.
A second straight come-from-behind victory boosted the Brewers’ lead in the division to nine games with 22 to play, and they also lead the season series against the Cubs, 6-3. Milwaukee would clinch the tiebreaker over the Cubs with a victory in any of the teams’ four remaining head-to-head matchups.
Jackson Chourio finished a triple shy of the cycle on a four-hit night and five relievers pitched a scoreless inning apiece on another terrific night for the Brewers’ bullpen behind Misiorowski, who surrendered five runs on five hits in his four innings, with four walks and five strikeouts in a rare dud amid what has been a brilliant season.
“I think we have a marvelous group here,” Chourio said. “Today didn’t happen to be the best day for him on the mound, but the group here was able to pick him up.”
Most of the damage against Misiorowski was courtesy of Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman, who tied the game with a two-run homer in the first inning and then hit a tiebreaking two-run single in the second as the Cubs took a 5-3 lead.
It marked the first time this season that Misiorowski yielded more than three earned runs in an outing. Since 1913, when earned runs became official in both leagues (and excluding openers), Misiorowski’s 25 consecutive starts with three or fewer earned runs tied for the third-longest streak to open a season.
But Brewers hitters had some answers of their own, scoring three times during a fourth-inning rally highlighted by Brice Turang’s successful squeeze bunt.
By night’s end, five Brewers players had tallied multiple hits and eight players had at least one RBI to help bail out their starting pitcher.
“I didn’t feel wonderful, didn’t feel great,” Misiorowski said. “Obviously it felt soggy the whole time. The weather played a factor in that, so I lost grip. I had to make it work.”
Gripping wasn’t the only problem. It was also finding grip with his plant leg on the mound, which has been an ongoing issue on the road because Misiorowski strides farther down the mound than most pitchers. It was a major problem in his last start against the Mets on a rainy day in New York, and has prompted calls to the grounds crew to firm up that patch of dirt in clay at other venues from Anaheim this season to Cincinnati last season.
Misiorowski took one step earlier this week in an effort to adjust. Rather than throw his 20-pitch, between-starts bullpen session under the cover of the right-field bleachers in the bullpen on Monday, Misiorowski took the game mound instead.
“It just gives him the feel,” said Brewers pitching coach Chris Hook. “And [the Cubs] were great about it. I think that’s the coolest part.”
Cubs hitters were not so cooperative once Misiorowski took the mound for real on Wednesday night. Chicago’s leadoff man and National League MVP Award candidate, Pete Crow-Armstrong -- who went into the night 0-for-12 with nine strikeouts against Misiorowski in the regular season and postseason -- reached safely against the Brewers' ace for the first time by working a walk. Twice in that plate appearance, after ball three and ball four, Misiorowski kicked at his landing spot on the mound.
Hook said there’s a growing contingent of teams around MLB doing work between starts on the main mound, all in an effort to make practice as close to game conditions as possible. Former Brewers GM Doug Melvin, who loved to brainstorm different ways to develop pitching, used to suggest pitchers throw live batting practice at different intervals of the season while Hook was Milwaukee’s Minor League pitching coordinator.
Misiorowski didn’t face hitters on Monday, but the concept was similar.
Unfortunately, it didn’t prevent problems in the game.
“You start second-guessing everything,” Misiorowski said. “You start trying to make pitches too big and start trying to make things too spot-on. You have to calm yourself down and figure out a way to get through it.”
“He’s going to learn a lesson from this,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “He didn’t command his fastball, and he just had to bob and weave. He didn’t have his perfect delivery, and that’s going to be a key going forward.”
Is there anything else that can be done about the mounds?
“Yeah, there’s a lot we can do,” Misiorowski said. “There’s stuff I can’t tell you guys, and really don’t want to.”
He was relieved when the topic turned to the way Brewers hitters and relievers had his back.
“That’s all I want to talk about, really,” Misiorowski said. “That was electric. To have the guys come behind me and put up run after run after run was awesome. In a big game like this, it helps out.”