MILWAUKEE — Jacob Misiorowski grinded into the fifth inning on 94 pitches as Milwaukee edged Los Angeles 2-1 in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series on Sunday night at American Family Field, keeping the Dodgers in check despite lacking his regular-season swing-and-miss form.
The 24-year-old right-hander came out firing 11 consecutive fastballs, the first at 102.3 mph to Mookie Betts and the hardest at 104.0 mph to Freddie Freeman, who singled for the night's first baserunner. On his 12th pitch he threw his first offspeed pitch, a slider, and induced Will Smith's inning-ending double play. He walked off the mound like it was just another start in the middle of June. "Miz is emotional," Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy said before the game. "And that's good, we don't want to bottle that up. But as he's matured this year, you've seen huge changes in this kid in how he's handled situations. He's not just excited to get out of the first. He doesn't want to burn any more energy. He wants to get out of the seventh."
The second inning looked less like the first and more like his 88-pitch, 30-foul ball, four-inning outing against the Padres in Game 1 of the NLDS. His 21.5 percent whiff rate in that game — 11 swings and misses on 52 swings — was his lowest of the season, and it was more of the same in a 35-pitch second inning against Los Angeles that began with a four-pitch walk to Shohei Ohtani, included a 10-pitch walk to Kyle Tucker, and saw Los Angeles strike first on Andy Pages' RBI single. The walk to Tucker loaded the bases with one out before Misiorowski escaped by inducing Kiké Hernández's double play to shortstop. He rebounded with a scoreless third, but the Dodgers coaxed 22 more pitches and pushed his foul-ball count to 16, and a balk charged to Misiorowski extended the fourth by six more offerings to leave him at 85 pitches, 55 strikes.
"Jacob doesn't have his best stuff," Murphy told FOX in an in-game interview, "but he's grinding though and doing everything he can. Love his competitiveness." Two batters into the fifth, it was over. Misiorowski departed after issuing a one-out walk with the teams tied at 1, and reliever DL Hall escaped the threat by inducing a Freddie Freeman double play as Milwaukee has taken a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
The outing followed Misiorowski's four-inning, 88-pitch start against San Diego in the NLDS and came as Milwaukee opened the NLCS at home after the postseason final four was set.