Ohtani takes Misiorowski deep earlier than Brewers rookie followers 12

MILWAUKEE — Shohei Ohtani greeted Jacob Misiorowski with a leadoff homer, however the Milwaukee Brewers’ rookie phenom acquired the final phrase.

After giving up Ohtani’s 431-foot blast, Misiorowski responded with one other dominant outing. He struck out a career-high 12 batters — together with two-way celebrity Ohtani within the third inning — to steer the Brewers to a 3-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night time.

“It is Shohei Ohtani,” Misiorowski mentioned. “You form of count on [that]. It is cool to see him do it in motion, nevertheless it fires me up much more coming again the following at-bat and placing him out. I am proper there. I feel it was a second of like, ‘OK, now we go.'”

Misiorowski, whose fastball routinely tops 100 mph, threw an 88.2 mph curveball on an 0-2 depend to Ohtani, who crushed it for his thirty first homer. That is probably the most by a Dodgers participant earlier than the All-Star break.

It was the twenty first profession leadoff homer for the three-time MVP, who struck out swinging on a curveball within the third and walked to start out the sixth. That was the one stroll given up by Misiorowski, who scattered 4 hits.

“Actually good things, aggressive within the zone,” Ohtani mentioned by an interpreter. “However what actually stood out to me was his command and management.”

Misiorowski outdueled three-time Cy Younger Award winner Clayton Kershaw, who surpassed 3,000 profession strikeouts in his earlier outing. Requested Monday about his matchup with Misiorowski, Kershaw mentioned he solely knew that the 6-foot-7 right-hander threw onerous.

“I do know him now, huh?” Kershaw mentioned Tuesday. “That was tremendous spectacular. That was unbelievable. It was actually particular. Every part. Clearly the velo, however he is acquired 4 pitches, instructions the ball. I do not understand how you hit that, actually. That is simply actually robust.”

Misiorowski was glad to get Kershaw’s consideration.

“I noticed one thing on-line that he did not now who I used to be, so I hope he is aware of me now,” Misiorowski mentioned. “It is form of cool.”

In 5 begins for the reason that Brewers known as him up from the minors, Misiorowski has already crushed Kershaw and 2024 NL Rookie of the 12 months Paul Skenes. In one other outing, Misiorowski carried an ideal recreation into the seventh inning.

“He is simply damaged the shell,” Brewers supervisor Pat Murphy mentioned. “He is simply out of the egg, all legs and arms. He is nonetheless acquired gooey stuff coming off, you’ll be able to see it, all legs and arms, however there’s one thing particular about him.”

The numbers would point out as a lot. Misiorowski is 4-1 with a 2.81 ERA and has given up solely 12 hits in 25⅔ innings.

He topped out at 101.6 mph and threw 20 pitches of at the least 100 on Tuesday. He additionally threw 19 curveballs after utilizing curves solely 10% of the time earlier than Tuesday.

He was coming off his solely shaky efficiency, giving up 5 runs — together with a grand slam by Brandon Nimmo — and three walks over 3⅔ innings Wednesday in a 7-3 loss to the New York Mets.

It regarded as if it could be extra of the identical after Ohtani went deep. Misiorowski responded by placing out 12 of the following 16 batters.

“I feel that is my job, is to determine it out on the fly,” he mentioned. “I really feel like I did it tonight.”

He acquired out of a jam within the sixth. The Dodgers trailed 2-1 and had runners on second and third with one out, however third baseman Andruw Monasterio fielded a grounder and threw out Ohtani on the plate, and Misiorowski retired Michael Conforto on a grounder.

Misiorowski pumped his fist as he headed towards the dugout, then watched the Brewers’ bullpen nail down the win.

“It is so satisfying,” Misiorowski mentioned. “It is only a dream come true, to do what I did.”