Jacob Misiorowski continues to amaze. After a dominant performance against the Yankees his last time out, Miz followed that up with an even more sparkling performance against the Padres. Still, the Brewers fell 3-1.
While the first inning for Misiorowski still carried the velocity in the 103-mph range, it took him a bit longer to make it through the four batters, taking 21 pitches. A replay review did not go the Brewers way on an infield single by Fernando Tatis Jr. that arguably should have been overturned. It then took Misiorowski 22 pitches to make it through the second inning.
“I honestly didn’t feel like I had my best stuff. I thought I was spraying those first few innings,” Misiorowski said.
Already at 43 pitches through two frames, it did not seem like the efficient night that Misiorowski would’ve needed to make it through seven innings, but he settled in and did just that. After a third inning single by Tatis, Misiorowski retired the next 14 batters he faced. He threw eight pitches in the fourth, eight in the fifth, seven in the sixth, and 11 in the seventh.
Misiorowski reached 103 mph with his final pitch in the seventh inning to strike out Nick Castellanos. He was all set to come back out for the eighth inning; the bullpen was quiet. But during his warmups, Misiorowski felt something in his leg again, called for the athletic trainer, and exited the ballgame with a 1-0 lead.
“Yeah, he wanted to stay in. We would have normally taken him out, but he wanted to stay in for the eighth,” Pat Murphy said.
Murphy confirmed it was a quad cramp for Misiorowski as the reason for his exit.
“I threw that first warmup pitch and was walking backwards up the mound and I kind of felt it coming on, kind of stood there for a second, like okay let’s see if it’s gonna do it,” Misiorowski said.
Misiorowski finished the night with a line of 7 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 10 K on 93 pitches.
Aaron Ashby came on for the eighth inning and sat the Padres down in order with a pair of strikeouts.
The Brewers were carrying a 1-0 lead, courtesy of an RBI fielder’s choice in the fifth inning from Brice Turang. Sal Frelick got that inning started with a single, then Joey Ortiz followed with a bunt single where Tatis was late covering first base. Jackson Chourio grounded into a fielder’s choice where they got the force out at second but couldn’t get anyone else, leaving runners at the corners for Turang. Turang hit a slow grounder to first and they couldn’t turn the double play there either, allowing Frelick to score.
It looked like that was going to be enough as the Brewers handed the ball to Abner Uribe for the ninth inning. Uribe got Tatis and Machado for the first two outs of the inning no problem. Then, things fell apart. It started with a single just over the outstretched glove of Turang, then a walk, and then Uribe hung a 0-1 slider to Gavin Sheets, who took it over the right field fence for a three-run shot.
The Brewers got a leadoff single from Luis Rengifo in the bottom of the ninth against Mason Miller, but that was all they could muster. Sal Frelick, Gary Sánchez, and Jackson Chourio were all retired, and the Padres stole a win from the Brewers on Wednesday night.
The rubber match is set for Thursday afternoon with Kyle Harrison on the bump for the Crew, with Griffin Canning starting for the Friars. First pitch is slated for 12:40 p.m.