MILWAUKEE — The Brewers have gone from removing rookie Jacob Misiorowski from the starting rotation at the end of the regular season to fielding persistent questions about whether he would even make the postseason roster to potentially needing him to help save the season.
In the MLB playoffs, life comes at you fast.
Misiorowski, the flamethrowing, rookie right-hander whose eye-popping performance included a pair of fastballs north of 104, was a major contributor to the Brewers winning a bullpen game in Game 2. They haven’t won since, and now another all-hands-on-deck game is on tap for Game 5 on Saturday at 7:08 p.m. CT at American Family Field.
“When you’re in this situation, when you’ve had the injuries we’ve had and all that kind of stuff, you’ve got to find a place [for him],” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “We know exactly where Miz is at and what we’d like him to do, and I think he fits in the plan for sure.”
The Brewers had a number of options on the table — including bringing back right-hander Quinn Priester on two days’ rest after he threw 39 pitches in a nightmare first inning of Game 3, or using another left-handed opener, like they did with Aaron Ashby in Game 2. Ashby is coming off 32 pitches in Game 4 on Thursday night, his third appearance of the series. But he’s available, too, according to Murphy.
“I think he’ll most likely pitch,” Murphy said. “… You’ve got to put your best guys out there, the guys you think can [get the job done] — a lot of those guys are rookies. A lot of those guys are not very experienced, but that’s how we’ve won all these games and come together.
“Now we’re playing in a way bigger environment, and it’s a bigger task. But I’m confident that we’ll have enough pitching.”
The season comes down to getting 27 outs with a lead. For the Brewers, who don’t have Brandon Woodruff (lat injury) or rookie Logan Henderson (elbow injury), and who have only limited use of left-hander Jose Quintana after he returned from a calf injury and Chad Patrick after he moved into a relief role for this series, the most apparent length option after Megill begins the game is Misiorowski, who already showed he can keep his poise in the postseason.
The next question is how the 23-year-old would handle the spotlight of a win-or-go-home game.
“It’s always fun, whenever I pitch,” Misiorowski said. “I’ll be ready to go.”
“It’s another game. Everyone is equal here, nobody is better than any other, and he needs to go out there and do his job,” catcher William Contreras said via translator Daniel de Mondesert. “He hasn’t done anything yet – that needs to be the mentality here. We have a game to go out there and win, and everybody needs to do their role.”
Here are the arms the Brewers are most likely to prioritize in Game 5:
• Aaron Ashby
Appearances in the series: 3
Last pitched: Game 4 (32 pitches)
• Jared Koenig
Appearances in the series: 3
Last pitched: Game 3 (7 pitches)
• Nick Mears
Appearances in the series: 3
Last pitched: Game 3 (14 pitches)
• Trevor Megill
Appearances in the series: 2
Last pitched: Game 4 (12 pitches)
• Misiorowski
Appearances in the series: 1
Last pitched: Game 2 (57 pitches)
• Chad Patrick
Appearances in the series: 3
Last pitched: Game 4 (4 pitches)
• Freddy Peralta
Appearances in the series: 2
Last pitched: Game 4 (84 pitches)
• Quinn Priester
Appearances in the series: 1
Last pitched: Game 3 (39 pitches)
• Abner Uribe
Appearances in the series: 1
Last pitched: Game 2 (13 pitches)
“I know that the great pitching that we have. I think that we’re all going to be available on Saturday,” Peralta said. “Put everything together and try to win. I know they [the Cubs] are going to do the same thing too. They’re going to come with everything but it’s going to be the last game and we’ll have to bring everything, all the positivity and all the effort and do our best.”
Will Peralta be available to pitch on one day of rest? He did that in last year’s NL Wild Card Series against the Mets, after all, working a scoreless eighth inning of Game 3 after throwing 68 pitches in four innings of Game 1 two days earlier. Notably, he “had a little hip thing” in Game 4, according to Murphy.
“Let’s see how we feel,” Peralta said. “You never know.”
