The Wednesday clash between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Milwaukee Brewers figured to be a compelling one, as it featured a matchup of 23-year-old right-handed aces — Paul Skenes and his MLB-leading ERA for the visitors and rookie thunderbolt Jacob Misiorowski for the host Brewers.
As it turned out, only one of the two, Misiorowski in his third big-league start, lived up to his end of the pregame ballyhoo in Milwaukee’s eventual 4-2 win.
Let us set the scene with some aesthetically pleasing symmetry:
First, there’s Skenes. The reigning National League Rookie of the Year came into Wednesday’s contest with a 1.85 ERA and a 4.3 WAR, both of which are tops among qualifying pitchers this season. As such, Skenes sits as the NL Cy Young favorite at the midpoint (-250, per DraftKings). The Brewers, though, had uncharacteristic success against him, as in four innings of work he permitted four runs, all earned and all of which came in the second inning, on four hits, four strikeouts, and a pair of walks. Lots of fours, you’ll agree.
As a result, Skenes’ ERA for the season rose to 2.12. That figure still paces the NL but is now fourth in MLB. According to the CBS Sports research desk, that’s the first time in Skenes’ major-league career that he’s allowed four or more runs in a single inning and the first time he’s allowed four or more runs combined in the first two innings of a start. Until Wednesday, Skenes had allowed a total of eight runs in the first and second innings combined across his entire career. Need more? Here’s more:
- Wednesday’s start is tied for the second-shortest outing of Skenes’ career.
- Those four earned runs he allowed are tied for the second most in a start in his career (Skenes allowed five earned against the Cardinals on April 8).
- The 78 pitches he threw against the Brewers are tied for his third fewest in a start for his career.
On the other side of things, we have Misiorowski’s (somewhat abbreviated) dominance against the Pirates on Wednesday:
Of his 74 pitches 54 went for strikes. He also earned 13 whiffs on 35 swings.
It’s not often Skenes gets outdone on the radar gun in a matchup, but Misiorowski certainly achieved that. Misiorowski’s fastball averaged 99.5 mph for the day and topped out at 102.4 mph. In all, Misiorowski hit triple digits 19 times on Wednesday compared to only one time for Skenes. What’s more, the 6-foot-7 Misiorowski gets excellent extension off the mound, which means he releases the ball closer to the plate than almost any other pitcher. As such, his already sizzling fastball seems even faster to the hitter. We measure this by “effective velocity,” which is how the pitch plays based on actual velocity and pitcher extension. Misiorowski’s average effective fastball velocity through his first three starts? It’s 102.0 mph. Pity the hitter.
Here’s a representative example:
Speaking of velocity, Misiorowski’s second pitch is a devastating hard slider. The 19 sliders he threw against Pittsburgh averaged 94.4 mph and maxed out at 96.4 mph. To repeat, these are sliders. The average fastball velocity in MLB this season is … 94.4 mph. Yes, Misiorowski on Wednesday threw his slider as hastily as the average big-league pitcher throws his fastball. Misiorowski also gets excellent extension on his slider, and for the season his slide-piece has an effective velocity of 97.0 mph. Sliders! Hitting such best-in-class stuff is an onerous task for any lineup, let alone one as bad as Pittsburgh’s.
Here’s that slider:
He also commands a breaking ball and changeup, by the way. It says much that Misiorowski has an average effective velocity of 94.4 mph on his changeup and still gets ample velocity separation relative to his fastball.
With Wednesday’s five-inning gem, Misiorowski made a bit of history. He’s now the first MLB pitcher since at least 1901 to to allow five hits or fewer combined across his first 3 career starts — all as a starter (min. 5 IP in each), with no prior relief appearances. As well, he’s just the eighth pitcher in the modern era to allow three or fewer hits over a three-start span totaling at least 15 innings, all in a single season. To bottom-line it, he’s allowed just three hits through his first 16 career innings. With the effort, he lowered his rookie ERA to 1.13.
One hopes and figures that this is the first of many Skenes-Misiorowski clashes to come. Don’t be surprised if Skenes counter-punches quite nicely the next time they meet.
With the win, the 45-36 Brewers are now just two games behind the Chicago Cubs in the NL Central and tied with the San Francisco Giants for second wild-card position in the NL. The Pirates are none of those things.
