Miz finds 'fine line between dominant and being just OK' in 1st loss

NEW YORK -- After three dazzling starts to begin his Major League career, Brewers phenom Jacob Misiorowski received a reminder that pitching in the big leagues isn’t easy.

Not even when you can throw 102 mph.

The 23-year-old right-hander became the first starting pitcher this season to throw triple-digit fastballs at Citi Field, but he was undone Wednesday by a combination of command lapses, a velocity drop and some plain bad luck, culminating with Brandon Nimmo lifting a grand slam to the seats and Francisco Lindor making it back-to-back homers off Misiorowski during a marathon second inning, sending the Brewers toward a 7-3 loss in Game 2 of a doubleheader after Milwaukee won Game 1, 7-2.

“He wasn’t in sync tonight, that’s for sure,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “You could see it. He’d have it for one pitch and then didn’t. You could see the ball wasn't coming out of his fingers the same. You could see the frustration build.”

And that’s not the worst thing, as Murphy sees it.

“He’s ticked about it. Even some of the sequencing, he’s ticked about,” Murphy said. “He’s really in a good spot in that [he’s thinking], ‘Darn it, I could’ve…’ It’s like he can see it, that there’s a fine line between dominant and being just OK.”

It was the first sign of struggle for a prospect who jumped up to No. 21 when MLB Pipeline unveiled its updated Top 100 on Wednesday and made it look so easy in his first three outings with the Brewers. Summoned to the Majors last month, the 6-foot-7 Misiorowski dominated the Cardinals, Twins and Pirates while winning each of his first three starts, scattering three total hits over 16 innings of those outings with 19 strikeouts.

A week after a sellout crowd packed American Family Field on Wednesday afternoon to see a marquee matchup between Misiorowski and Pirates ace Paul Skenes, Misiorowski came back to Earth. He needed 20 pitches to navigate a scoreless first inning that featured a two-out walk to Juan Soto, then issued two more two-out walks in a 32-pitch, five-run second -- one after a close 2-2 pitch to Brett Baty that could have ended the inning was called a ball.

Misiorowski nearly escaped when Mets catcher Hayden Senger hit a chopper that ticked off Misiorowski’s glove and caromed toward second base, where Brewers infielder Brice Turang was waiting. But it took a funny hop and spun away for an infield hit, and the Mets cashed in with Nimmo’s grand slam on the very next pitch, a slider. It got worse for Misiorowski when Lindor followed by hitting a 97.4 mph fastball for a long solo homer.

In that single inning, the Mets’ three hits matched what Misiorowski had allowed in his first 17 innings in the Majors. Was he indeed out of sync? He wasn’t ready to say that.

“No, I made good pitches and they hit them. Plain and simple as that,” Misiorowski said.

What, then, explains the dip in fastball velocity as low as 95-96 mph at one point?

“My fingers were just a little too far on the right side of the ball and it kind of spun a little different than I’m used to,” Misiorowski said. “Nothing crazy.”

“He’s such a loose mover and the ball explodes out of his hand, so I can’t tell if things are ticking down until I’m looking at the velo board,” catcher Eric Haase said. “It’s nasty and it’s all over the place. It’s hard to corral.”

Two innings after the Mets’ homers put the Brewers in a hole, Misiorowski’s outing was over. He threw 43 of his 72 pitches for strikes in 3 2/3 innings and was charged with five earned runs on five hits and three walks with a pair of strikeouts. Misiorowski generated six swings and misses against the Mets after 13, nine and 13 in his first three starts. He generated no swings and misses during the long second inning.

Afterward, the principals were citing the positives that could emerge. Murphy mentioned Reds righty Hunter Greene, who took his lumps early in his career before harnessing his similarly powerful arsenal to become an All-Star last season. Haase said there is value in Misiorowski “realizing, OK, there’s going to be some human outings.”

And Misiorowski himself said he’d rather endure this now than later, in the process revealing where he sees this season going for the Brewers. His next start comes against the dangerous Dodgers at home.

“I use the old Tiger Woods approach and move on to the next hit. Move on to the next pitch,” he said. “It’s frustrating, but at the same time, it’s a young career and it’s good to figure it out now, not when we’re in the playoffs and it matters most.”