LOS ANGELES – The last time Jacob Misiorowski encountered traffic on the basepaths like he saw in Game 3 of the NLCS on Thursday, he wilted. This time, the rookie right-hander rose to the occasion and gave the Brewers every opportunity to save their season.
Misiorowski topped out at 102.5 mph while working parts of six innings of the Brewers’ 3-1 loss at Dodger Stadium before running into trouble in L.A.’s go-ahead sixth. It tarnished what had been his third impressive outing in the postseason – and what could prove the final outing of Misiorowski’s rookie season if the Brewers, trailing 3-0 in the best-of-seven series, are unable to make a miraculous comeback.
“All the positives that come out of this is ammo for next year to come back even stronger and be even better than we are now,” Misiorowski said.
That’s not to say he’s already thinking about next year, because as improbable a comeback as it would be, the Brewers aren’t done yet. If they somehow piece together enough pitching, and if they somehow jump-start an offense that has scored three runs on nine hits while slashing .101/.165/.180 ahead of a Game 4 showdown with Shohei Ohtani (the pitcher) while potentially without Jackson Chourio after the star outfielder reinjured his right hamstring, then Misiorowski could pitch again.
But for that to happen, the Brewers would have to get to a Game 7.
“If we can do something extraordinary,” manager Pat Murphy said, “he’s lined up to pitch the last game.”
Misiorowski was charged with two runs (one earned) on three hits over five innings while striking out nine of the 19 hitters he faced in an outing that was better than the box score reflected in the end. Both of the runs scored after the Brewers tried to get the 23-year-old fireballer through the end of the sixth, including one of the runs on an errant pickoff attempt by the pitcher who followed, Abner Uribe.
Misiorowski’s 73-pitch outing followed his four-inning, one-run appearance in the Brewers’ NLDS Game 5 clincher against the Cubs, and three scoreless innings in NLDS Game 2, when he came out firing 104 mph fastballs.
Those previous outings began with clean innings. In this one, Misiorowski was called upon to clean up a mess after left-handed opener Aaron Ashby faced four hitters and retired only one, leaving the Brewers in a 1-0 hole with runners on first and second with one out in the bottom of the first inning. Misiorowski struck out Tommy Edman and Teoscar Hernández and kept going into the sixth.
“My five innings of work that I got were what I was asked to do. It was positive on that end,” Misiorowski said. “But just not the outcome that we wanted.”
Twice along the way, Misiorowski stared down superstar Ohtani, who homered in their first meeting at Milwaukee’s American Family Field in July, and won the battle, including a swinging strikeout to end the fifth.
Misiorowski was at 59 pitches at that point in a 1-1 game, and the Brewers sent him back to the mound for a sixth inning that began with a called strikeout against Mookie Betts, Misiorowski’s ninth of the afternoon. When Will Smith singled, the Brewers stuck with Misiorowski for left-handed-hitting Freddie Freeman, who walked, and the switch-hitting Edman, who struck out in each of his first two at-bats against Misiorowski. Given a third look, Edman hit a slider a baseball’s width below the strike zone to center field to give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead.
“It wasn’t like he got crushed,” Murphy said. “He threw the ball unbelievable. He gave us the best chance to win there. Abner has not been throwing the ball like he normally has. I had to make a decision who’s a better match-up [against Edman]. Miz was the best player on the field for us today, and he was fantastic.
“I knew he was getting to the end because that’s his pitch-count kind of thing, but in a game like this, I wanted to give him a chance to get out of that.”
“He’s really, really good,” Edman said of Misiorowski. “You’ve just got to be ready to hit. You’ve got to be ready to hit 102. He’s a tough pitcher, and I’m just glad we got that one. … He’s got a lot of extension, so it seems like he’s releasing it right on top of you. So I think it’s just getting some familiarity with his pitch types and everything, and how you need to attack him.”
Did the Brewers have any second thoughts about not beginning the inning with Uribe?
“You know the situation with our ’pen,” Murphy said, referring to the way the Brewers have used their bullpen arms early and often throughout this postseason, “and Miz is cruising. So, let me ask you something: We take out Miz right there, what questions am I getting right now when we bring somebody in and they give up two runs? He was throwing the ball great. I’m really happy for him.”
Misiorowski went into the history books as the third pitcher to strike out at least nine batters in a postseason game he didn’t start – and the first in 59 years. The others were Moe Drabowsky of the Orioles in Game 1 of the 1966 World Series (11 strikeouts) and Jesse Barnes of the New York Giants in Game 6 of the 1921 World Series (10 strikeouts).
Misiorowski had been set up for this outing since his final appearance of the regular season, when he inherited a bases-loaded jam against the Reds. Ke’Bryan Hayes’ swinging bunt single marked an inauspicious start for Misiorowski, who then walked in a run and surrendered a single that cleared the bases, turning a 1-0 Brewers deficit into 6-0 in the blink of an eye and leaving some question as to whether Misiorowski would even make the cut for Milwaukee’s postseason roster.
He not only made the roster, but has played a critical role for a team very short of traditional starting pitchers at the moment. Misiorowski’s 57 pitches helped stabilize an NLDS Game 2 win over the Cubs for a 2-0 lead in that series, and his 54 pitches in Game 5 positioned the Brewers to send their rivals packing for the offseason after the Brewers lost Games 3 and 4 at Wrigley Field.
Against the Dodgers on Thursday, Misiorowski came up big again. Now the Brewers will have to look to Jose Quintana or Chad Patrick for length in the early innings, and they’ll have to hope the hitters come to life against Ohtani.
Misiorowski, though, did his part.
“He did a great job,” Christian Yelich said. “He’s been huge for us this postseason, coming out of the bullpen and giving us 4-5 shutdown innings every time.”
