Another day, another record-setting start for Milwaukee Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski. Sunday afternoon at American Family Field (GameTracker), Misiorowski struck out the first seven Colorado Rockies he faced, and 12 of the first 13. Seven straight strikeouts to begin the game is a new franchise record and two short of the MLB record, done most recently by Pablo López in 2021.
Furthermore, Misiorowski became the first pitcher since 1920 with 11 strikeouts and no hits allowed through four innings. It wasn’t until Cole Carrigg poked a solo home run to the opposite field with two outs in the fifth inning that the Rockies put a runner on base against Misiorowski, who finished with just the one run allowed in five innings. He struck out 12.
Despite his dominance, Misiorowski was removed after throwing only 83 pitches as the Brewers manage his workload for the stretch run. He’s up to 120 innings on the season and is rapidly approaching last year’s career-high 141 â…” innings. That’s with August and September still to play, not to mention what the Brewers hope will be a long postseason run in October.
“It’s a big discussion. It’s a big topic,” manager Pat Murphy said about Misiorowski’s workload prior to his last start (via MLB.com). “There’s been all sorts of concern, planning, discussion, sidebar discussions about biomechanics, strength testing, all of that. Thus, the reason for the layoff (after the All-Star Game). Now, how do we ramp it back up?”
How the Brewers limiting Jacob Misiorowski’s workload could affect the National League Cy Young race
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The workload restrictions could cut into Misiorowski’s Cy Young candidacy, but that has to be a secondary concern for Milwaukee. The Brewers have baseball’s second-best record behind the Los Angeles Dodgers and as good a chance as they’ve ever had to win the franchise’s first World Series title. I’m sure Misiorowski would trade a Cy Young for a World Series ring.
Sunday’s outing gives Misiorowski a 1.58 ERA through 20 starts and 120 innings. No other qualified pitcher has a sub-2.00 ERA. Misiorowski leads baseball with 185 strikeouts, 18 more than anyone else, and his otherworldly 40.6% strikeout rate (percentage of batters faced) is again tops in baseball. Dylan Cease is a distant second at 36.5%.
