MILWAUKEE \u2013 Here\u2019s the craziest thing about the performance of the year in Major League Baseball, and maybe the greatest game for any player \u2013 certainly the greatest game for any pitcher \u2013 in the 58 seasons of Brewers franchise history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jacob Misiorowski\u00a0didn\u2019t think he had the goods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What he did have was another night on the mound like no one has ever witnessed before. It was a perfect game but for Kyle Schwarber\u2019s fourth-inning single. It was a 95-pitch shutout and a \u201cMaddux\u201d \u2013 if Greg Maddux could throw 104.5 mph and strike out 15 with ease like the 24-year-old 6-foot-7 right-hander did in Friday\u2019s\u00a06-0 Brewers win\u00a0over the Phillies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is not a normal pitcher,\u201d said Brewers catcher William Contreras. \u201cI think he can go out there and throw 100 fastballs and get through a game.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Imagine what Misiorowski might be able to do on a night he\u2019s really feeling it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022\u00a013 stats and facts from Miz’s unforgettable start<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTo be honest,\u201d Misiorowski said, \u201cthe first inning, first few innings, I feel like I didn\u2019t have it all that well. I was just hoping they would swing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So what did he do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He threw hard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think I was trying to push it a little bit to feel something,\u201d Misiorowski said. \u201cAnd it just started coming out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That it did, electrifying a sellout crowd of 40,205 from Misiorowski\u2019s leadoff strikeout against Schwarber on a 104.5 mph fastball. It was the fastest pitch from a starter since pitch tracking began in 2008. Then Misiorowski struck out Trea Turner at 103.5 mph and Bryce Harper at 104.1 mph. Three swinging strikeouts against three superstars, and the three fastest strikeout pitches for a starter in the pitch tracking era, including the postseason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Misiorowski was just getting started on the one-year anniversary of\u00a0his Major League debut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Schwarber\u2019s single leading off the fourth inning was the only blemish on a remarkable outing in which Misiorowski set a career high with 15 strikeouts \u2013 most in the Majors this season \u2013 in the Brewers\u2019 first complete-game shutout since Brandon Woodruff blanked the Marlins nearly three years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Misiorowski finished what he started on 95 pitches (74 strikes) and logged the most strikeouts in a so-called Maddux \u2013 a shutout on fewer than 100 pitches \u2013 since records of pitch counts began in 1988. Tarik Skubal struck out 13\u00a0in his own Maddux\u00a0last year to set that mark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Misiorowski threw 58 triple-digit fastballs, including 31 at 102-plus, both new marks for the pitch-tracking era. It continued a stretch in which he has a 0.17 ERA in his past eight outings. If you exclude openers, that\u2019s the lowest ERA in any eight-start span since earned runs became an official stat in 1913, surpassing Chris Sale’s 0.20 mark for the Red Sox in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou know, I try to put myself in the shoes of the other [team\u2019s] hitters, and it\u2019s hard to do,\u201d said Contreras, who has ushered Misiorowski through all but six of his 28 Major League starts over the past year. \u201cI would imagine it\u2019s extremely different when you have a pitcher who is almost 7 feet in height, 8 feet of extension and throws the ball 105 mph. I\u2019m really happy he\u2019s on our side.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Technically, it was not quite 105 mph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But you can\u2019t blame Contreras for rounding up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFor me, personally, that was as good as it gets,\u201d Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. \u201cIn the Major Leagues, to pitch a game like that against an offense like that, that\u2019s that capable, with all of those All-Stars over there, incredible. \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAmazing young man, he really is. Forrest Gump-like, you know what I mean? He\u2019s amazingly real, naive to a lot of things, and it\u2019s beautiful. He goes out and lets it eat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What might have inspired the extra edge on Misiorowski\u2019s already angry fastball? Remember, it was the Phillies who raised the loudest objections last July when Major League Baseball invited Misiorowski to the All-Star Game with just five starts under his belt. They felt the honor should have gone to their teammate, left-hander Cristopher S\u00e1nchez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now those two aces are at it again. Misiorowski went 5-0 with a 0.23 ERA in May and didn\u2019t win NL Player of the Month honors because S\u00e1nchez, who is scheduled to start Sunday\u2019s series finale between these teams, pitched to a 0.00 ERA in five starts for the Phillies. Misiorowski shrugged off his runner-up finish, and on Friday night he downplayed any suggestion of bad blood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about the same as the Yankees, the Dodgers, any of those big-market teams,\u201d Misiorowski said. \u201cYou want to throw well against them. That adds adrenaline to it, too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was dominance from the very first strikeout against Schwarber. Home plate umpire Chad Fairchild ruled it a foul tip that settled into Contreras\u2019 glove, and while that was open for debate \u2013 Schwarber sure did, vehemently \u2013 it looked to clip the strike zone regardless. Either way, it was the first out of an opening inning in which Misiorowski went three up, three down with three strikeouts \u2013 and the three fastest strikeout pitches ever tracked from a starter. Misiorowski also had the old mark (103.4 mph on May 25 against the Cardinals).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With Friday\u2019s first inning, he now holds the top 10<\/em> spots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s awesome. Honestly, that\u2019s really cool,\u201d Misiorowski said. \u201cBut I think there\u2019s always another step to go with it. Keep pushing it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why not? The fastest overall pitch in the pitch tracking era is 105.8 mph by then-Reds reliever Aroldis Chapman on Sept. 24, 2010. The hardest strikeout pitch is\u00a0105.5 mph by Angels reliever Ben Joyce\u00a0on Sept. 3, 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brewers owner Mark Attanasio watched that first inning from a suite at American Family Field because he and wife Debbie were visiting with players\u2019 wives and families. He was in his usual spot next to the dugout for the second inning and didn\u2019t budge after that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n No one did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was two hours and four minutes, sure, but after the game, nobody left,\u201d Attanasio said. \u201cMiz did his interview [for Brewers.tv], and the entire stadium was still there, standing. I don\u2019t remember that in my 22 seasons.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the best things about it, Attanasio said, was that Misiorowski\u2019s mom was in the ballpark. She was not planning to be, but she was working out on Friday morning with Jacob\u2019s fianc\u00e9e’s mom, and they decided on a whim to drive up from Kansas City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She was glad she did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Oh, yeah, are you kidding me? That was amazing,” Crystal Misiorowski said. “I feel blessed to be here.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her son wasn\u2019t content to make his point against the Phillies with one good inning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He went 1-2-3 in the second on nine pitches, all strikes, denied an immaculate inning by Alec Bohm\u2019s groundout for the second out of the inning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Through the third, Misiorowski was nine up, nine down with eight strikeouts. When Schwarber knocked a clean single leading off the fourth, Misiorowski responded by striking out Turner for the second time and getting an inning-ending double play from Harper to get back on track to facing the minimum number of hitters required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Inning after electric inning, he stayed there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Misiorowski had his ninth career double-digit strikeout game and sixth this season by the fifth inning. That\u2019s when he finally started to feel right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe lower half started locking in,\u201d Misiorowski said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Misiorowski matched his career high with his 12th strikeout in the sixth and set a new high with his 13th in the seventh. In the eighth, Misiorowski’s 14th strikeout tied him with the Angels’ Reid Detmers (May 24 vs. the Rangers) and the Mariners’ Emerson Hancock (May 2 vs. the Royals) for MLB’s single-game high this season. In the ninth, Misiorowski completed the job for the Brewers\u2019 first complete game since Woodruff\u2019s shutout in a 12-0 win over the Marlins on\u00a0Sept. 11, 2023, in this ballpark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was the Brewers\u2019 first complete game of one hit or fewer since Hall of Famer CC Sabathia\u2019s unforgettable start in Pittsburgh on\u00a0Aug. 31, 2008, when an infield single that Sabathia and the Brewers believed should have been ruled an error stood as the only hit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, Misiorowski finished the night with strikeout No. 15, matching Corbin Burnes (Aug. 11, 2021) for second most in Brewers history. Only Ben Sheets (18 strikeouts against the Braves on May 16, 2004) had more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Misiorowski\u2019s 15 strikeouts tied for the most by a pitcher in a game in which he faced the minimum since at least 1900, with the Orioles\u2019 Erik Bedard on\u00a0July 7, 2007. Bedard allowed two hits that day. Misiorowski allowed one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cObviously, a unique fastball,\u201d said Schwarber. \u201cIt feels like you try to adjust to different things, and it just kind of finds a way around you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n That was the case all the way through the ninth inning, which might have been even more remarkable than the first. Misiorowski got three outs on nine pitches. Eight were fastballs, all 100.8 mph and up. The last two pitches of the night \u2013 Nos. 94 and 95 \u2013 were swinging strikes to Phillies center fielder Justin Crawford at 103.4 mph and 103.1 mph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s a lot of work from people behind me and in the training room and the weight room and all that,\u201d Misiorowski said. \u201cThey\u2019ve helped a lot. Most of all has been William back there. He\u2019s the one who has been coaching me through these games and really making it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The admiration is mutual. It was Contreras behind the plate for Misiorowski\u2019s debut exactly one year earlier, when he burst onto the scene with five-plus scoreless innings against the Cardinals. Contreras was also there during the second half, when Misiorowski struggled so mightily with command that he lost his spot in the rotation, and barely won a spot in the Brewers\u2019 bullpen for the postseason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s fast. It\u2019s very fast, but he\u2019s got a plan now,\u201d Contreras said. \u201cHe knows what he wants to do. He studies hitters and he knows how he wants to execute his plan. He\u2019s not a thrower anymore. He\u2019s a pitcher.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The rest of the league has taken note.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMarshy asked me after the game,\u201d said Harper, referring to the Phillies\u2019 Brandon Marsh, \u201che’s like, \u2018That’s probably the best guy I’ve ever faced.\u2019 And he asked me who\u2019s one of the best guys I’ve ever faced, and I said Matt Harvey. He had that extension heater, and he was one of the first guys that really rode that heater at the top of the zone. Obviously, 104 is a little bit different.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Phillies\u2019 star, perhaps with October in mind, saw a silver lining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI’m happy we were able to face him \u2013 and I’m not saying that in a good way or bad way, but I was just happy we were able to face him and see what that looked like,\u201d Harper said. \u201cHe shoved it tonight. Tip your cap and try to go get them tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" MILWAUKEE \u2013 Here\u2019s the craziest thing about the performance of the year in Major League Baseball, and maybe the greatest game for any player \u2013 certainly the greatest game for any pitcher \u2013 in the 58 seasons of Brewers franchise history. Jacob Misiorowski\u00a0didn\u2019t think he had the goods. 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