The show continued Friday night with one of the most dominant performances in baseball history. The ace struck out 15 and faced the minimum 27 batters in a one-hit shutout at American Family Field (). The Phillies’ only baserunner, , was quickly erased on a double play following his single.
Here are Misiorowski’s 15 strikeouts:
Misiorowski’s final pitch, No. 95 on the night, was a 103.1 mph fastball by for strikeout No. 15. Eight of his nine pitches in the ninth inning were over 100 mph. The one that wasn’t? It was a 92.2 mph changeup.
“Amazing. Amazing young man. He really is,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy after the game. “Forrest Gump-like. Amazingly real. Naive to a lot of things. It’s beautiful. He just goes out and lets it eat.”
Alas and alack, we missed a Misiorowski vs. pitching matchup by two days. Sánchez is scheduled to start Sunday’s series finale. Those two are the early NL Cy Young favorites and they keep one-upping each other. .
The win improved the NL Central leading Brewers to 42-25 on the season. Here now are four things to know about Misiorowski’s one-hit, 15-strikeout masterpiece.
Affectionately named after Hall of Famer Greg Maddux, a “Maddux” is a complete game on fewer than 100 pitches. Misiorowski threw only 95 pitches Friday, and his 15 strikeouts are the most ever in a recorded Maddux. Pitch-by-pitch data goes back to 1988. Here are the most strikeouts in a Maddux since then:
Friday was an unmatched combination of dominance and efficiency.
Misiorowski hit 100 mph 58 times Friday — 58 times! — and ran his fastball as high as 104.5 mph. He threw the four fastest pitches by a starting pitcher in the pitch-tracking era (since 2008), postseason included. This season Misiorowski has thrown the 26 fastest pitches by a starter since pitch-tracking launched. The fastest pitch by a starter other than Misiorowski is a 103.2 mph offering by back in 2022. The Miz is rewriting the velocity record books.
Misiorowski finished Friday’s start with a 100 Game Score, which is a Bill James metric that grades a start by adding and subtracting points based on certain outcomes (outs records, hits allowed, strikeouts, etc.). It is the first 100 Game Score since ‘s 14-strikeout no-hitter in 2019, and the 17th Game Score of at least 100 in a nine-inning game in baseball history. Prior to Misiorowski, the best start in Brewers history was a 95 Game Score by in 2021. Burnes struck out 14 in eight no-hit innings in what became a combined no-hitter with . Ben Sheets had a 94 Game Score in his franchise record 18-strikeout game in 2004.
Here are the number of earned runs Misiorowski has allowed in his last eight starts: 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0. He is the fourth pitcher ever to allow no more than one earned run in an eight-start span, joining Walter Johnson, Guy Bush, and Fernando Valenzuela. In those eight starts, Misiorowski has 0.17 ERA with 80 strikeouts in 54 ⅓ innings. This is as dominant of an eight-start span as we’ve seen in baseball history. The overpowering velocity, the strikeouts, the lack of base hits allowed — Misiorowski is playing a different game than everyone else right now.
Friday was the one-year anniversary of Misiorowski’s major league debut. In his first year as a big leaguer, Misiorowski went 13-5 with a 2.65 ERA in 153 innings spanning 28 starts and one relief appearance. He struck out 218 batters in those 153 innings. Only Sánchez (242), (222), and (221) have more strikeouts over the last calendar year, and they’ve all thrown more innings. Only Sánchez (8.9) and (6.1) have bested Misiorowski’s 5.3 WAR since his debut. The kid came up and has been an instant ace for the Brewers.
