Jacob Misiorowski, the NL Cy Young Award front-runner, had a seriously rough go of it just to make it into the fifth inning of the NL Championship Series opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers Sunday night. It was a really challenging night for the Milwaukee Brewers ace.
Dodgers Just Wore Him Down With Pitches
Los Angeles hitters made Misiorowski work, fouling off 21 of his 94 pitches by the time his final batter, Mookie Betts, reached on a one-out walk in the fifth. The 24-year-old right-hander, standing 6-foot-7, ended up allowing one run and five hits in his outing. He really brought the heat, throwing 44 pitches at 100 mph or higher, even touching 104 mph on his very first offering to Freddie Freeman in the first inning. But the Dodgers were still swinging: they took a whack at 27 of his 62 fastballs, fouling off 16 of them and only missing five. That’s just tough to pitch around.
Postseason Struggles for the Dominant Ace?
This performance felt a long way from the season Misiorowski put together. He finished 16-5 with a major league-low 1.80 ERA across 30 starts, averaging 100.6 mph with his four-seam fastball. He absolutely dominated the league, leading the majors with 252 strikeouts in 174 2/3 innings. But this was his second postseason start, and it’s been a grind. In his previous outing, he tossed four innings of two-run ball in Milwaukee’s 3-2 win over San Diego in Game 1 of their NL Division Series on Oct. 3, throwing triple digits on 52 of 88 pitches. Tonight, he struck out five and walked three.
Even with three inning-ending double plays helping him out, including Kiké Hernández’s bouncer with the bases loaded in the second, it was a tough night. DL Hall stepped in and got Freddie Freeman to ground into another double play, and the 42,617 fans waving yellow towels definitely got loud for that. Still, this was a hard start for Misiorowski in the NLCS opener.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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