Brewers phenom Jacob Misiorowski extends Dodgers

MILWAUKEE — The sport plan, supervisor Dave Roberts mentioned Tuesday afternoon, was easy.

As the Dodgers ready to face Milwaukee Brewers phenom Jacob Misiorowski, a hard-throwing and supremely proficient right-hander making just his fifth MLB begin, the membership’s supervisor repeated one key a number of occasions during his pregame handle with reporters:

“Stress him as much as we can.”

Given Misiorowski’s inexperience, the concept was to work long at-bats, drive up his pitch rely and “be mindful of [making] quick outs,” Roberts mentioned.

“If he’s got to keep repeating pitches, there might be a way for some base hits, some walks,” he added. “Again, create stress, and hopefully get a couple big hits.”

An enormous hit got here early, with Shohei Ohtani main off the sport with his thirty first home run of the season. But after that, the only stress evident at American Family Field on Tuesday got here from the Dodgers’ lineup, which struck out 12 occasions against Misiorowski during a 3-1 loss to the Brewers. It was the Dodgers’ fifth loss in a row.

“That was super impressive,” future Hall of Fame Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw mentioned of Misiorowski, a 23-year-old prospect 14 years his junior. “That was unbelievable.”

The Ks got here rapidly for Misiorowski following Ohtani’s early blast (his ninth leadoff home run of the season, and one that set a Dodgers report for whole home runs before the All-Star break).

Mookie Betts fanned on a slider in the next at-bat. Freddie Freeman whiffed on a curveball after him. Andy Pages froze on a 100.8 mph fastball, one of 21 triple-digit pitches Misiorowski uncorked from his wiry 6-foot-7, 197-pound body.

From there, the Dodgers (56-37) didn’t stress the rookie flame-thrower again until the sixth, when they failed to capitalize with runners on second and third and one out in the inning.

“Just really good stuff,” Ohtani mentioned of Misiorowski, through interpreter Will Ireton. “Aggressive in the zone. But what really stood out to me was his command and control. The [third-inning] at-bat where there’s a runner on base, if I drove that guy in, it would have been 2-0. So I think the situation would’ve been a little different.”

Instead, the wasted probability in the sixth inning grew to become the sport’s defining sequence.

The Brewers’ Jacob Misiorowski is doused with a sports activities drink by Caleb Durbin and Andruw Monasterio after a win over the Dodgers on Tuesday in Milwaukee.

(Aaron Gash / Associated Press)

Ohtani drew a leadoff stroll and Betts slapped a single through the infield. With one out, however, Ohtani was thrown at the plate attempting to rating from third on Pages’ chopper up the road — making an aggressive, but correct, learn in a sport where the Dodgers had long before conceded that runs can be robust to come by.

“It’s hard to kind of find the silver lining when a guy strikes out 12 guys,” Roberts mentioned. “It never feels good when you lose five in a row. But today, I think, it was one of those days where the guy’s stuff — it didn’t matter who was out there. He was really good tonight.”

After Michael Conforto grounded out to first to retire the facet, Misorowski skipped back to the dugout with a few thumps of his chest, ending a six-inning, one-run begin that noticed all 12 strikeouts come the first 5 frames (tying probably the most strikeouts by any MLB pitcher in the first 5 innings of a sport since 2008).

“I know him now, huh?” Kershaw deadpanned, after saying the day prior he only knew Misiorowski for his large velocity and an awkward ankle roll that ended his hitless debut 4 weeks prior.

“It was really special. I mean, everything. Obviously the velo, but he’s got four pitches, commands the ball and made it — I mean, I don’t know how you hit that, honestly. That’s just really tough.”

Kershaw produced a stable six-inning, two-run begin of his own in a vastly completely different means. With his fastball still topping out at only 90 mph, and the 37-year-old managing only three strikeouts in his first begin since becoming a member of the three,000 membership final week, Kershaw as a substitute navigated the Brewers with a string of tender contact.

“I felt better for sure,” Kershaw mentioned, after reducing his ERA to 3.38. “Was able to throw the ball to both sides of the plate today, which helped a lot. Just kind of had more of a mix. It wasn’t as predictable as I have been recently.”

The only downside: The Brewers still discovered a means to construct a rally in the underside of the fourth.

After singling on a swinging bunt up the third bottom line his first time up, Milwaukee catcher William Contreras did the identical factor to lead off the inning. Then Jackson Chourio beat the shift on a ground ball the opposite means.

That set up Andrew Vaughn for a line-drive single on a slider over the surface edge of the plate, tying the rating. In the next at-bat, Isaac Collins also discovered a gap in the infield, sneaking one other ground-ball single between Betts and Rojas on the left facet of the infield to give Milwaukee a 2-1 lead.

“Those are tough,” Kershaw mentioned of the infield hits. “You can’t really do a whole lot about that. But the Vaughn one was a mistake for sure.”

Even after Misiorowski departed, a shorthanded Dodgers lineup (which was once again without injured veterans Teoscar Hernández, Tommy Edman and Max Muncy, as effectively as main catcher Will Smith on a scheduled off day) couldn’t claw its means back.

The Brewers’ bullpen retired all 9 batters it confronted. Sal Frelick took Kirby Yates deep for an insurance coverage run in the eighth. And on a day the Dodgers meant to create stress, they had been as a substitute dealing with the headache of a season-long five-game dropping streak.

“I don’t think we saw a fastball under 98 today as a team,” Kershaw mentioned. “So you can talk about struggling all you want, but this was just a tough game. I can’t give up any runs. That’s just the way it goes.”