MILWAUKEE -- The biggest crowd of the year filled American Family Field on Wednesday afternoon to watch two electric arms go head to head. If they get their way, there will be many more Paul Skenes vs. Jacob Misiorowski matchups to come.
Round 1 went to the flamethrowing rookie over the reigning NL Rookie of the Year in the Brewers’ 4-2 win over the Pirates, as Misiorowski scattered a pair of singles and struck out eight while throwing the hardest pitch ever recorded from a Brewers pitcher -- 102.4 mph -- over five scoreless innings. Meanwhile, Milwaukee hitters got to Skenes like no team had done before, scratching out four runs in the second inning and riding them to a victory.
What was hyped as a matchup of power pitching proved to be just that from Misiorowski’s very first offering, a 100.3 mph fastball that was the first of the 6-foot-7 right-hander’s 12 triple-digit fastballs in the first inning alone.
“It was one of those things where you wanted to try to calm yourself down as much as possible and stay off the Internet,” Misiorowski said. “I feel like everything that I swiped was like, me and Skenes, me and Skenes, me and Skenes.
“I had to turn it off, had to mute it. It was a good time to spend with the girlfriend.”
Brewers hitters helped add to Misiorowski’s sense of calm by batting around against Skenes in a 37-pitch second inning and making enough contact to take a 4-0 lead -- the most runs the Pirates phenom had allowed in any inning over the first 40 starts of his Major League career.
In his previous 39 starts, he’d allowed two earned runs in all second innings combined, and only twice had he allowed four-plus runs in an entire outing. Skenes gave up four runs total (only three earned) over his previous five starts entering Wednesday. He threw 33 1/3 innings in that stretch.
It was a station-to-station approach that featured a walk, two run-scoring grounders and four hits, including Joey Ortiz’s 35.8 mph infield groundout for a 1-0 Brewers lead and Eric Haase's 67.2 mph double to make it 2-0.
“The only thing that can be better than weak contact is a strikeout. Once you release the pitch, you can't control what they do,” Skenes said. “I wasn't unhappy with the execution with all of [the pitches]. There were a couple that could've been a little bit better, maybe there was a different pitch I could've thrown here or there.
“But you can't sweat it. You'll lose a lot of sleep if you go down that road."
If Brewers officials had concerns that Misiorowski would be derailed by the buzz surrounding this matchup, they were quelled when he set a personal record by throwing 12 pitches north of 100 mph in the opening inning and 19 triple-digit pitches in the game. All told, he scattered two walks and two singles with eight strikeouts on 74 pitches over five scoreless innings.
At that point, with a 4-0 lead, an off day coming Thursday and an eye on Misiorowski’s workload, the Brewers opted to tap the bullpen.
“We just want to be smart about it, that’s all,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “Like we would with any pitcher, whether he’s throwing 99 [mph] or 92. It’s like training a marathon runner, you don’t just run all 26 [miles] even though you probably could.”
Three starts into his career, Misiorowski’s ERA sits at 1.13. He’s allowed two runs on three hits and seven walks with 19 strikeouts in his first 16 innings in the big leagues. Opponents are hitting .061.
"Power arm,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “I mean, it's impressive. You watch it on video, and then when you see it in person, at least from the side -- I can't imagine from the box what that looks like, but from the side -- you can just see the electricity. Paul is very similar; very, very tough stuff to hit."
Skenes also touched triple digits, making this the seventh game in the pitch-tracking era (since 2008, including postseason games) in which both starting pitchers topped 100 mph:
• 6/25/25 Misiorowski (19), Skenes (1)
• 6/15/25 Dylan Cease (3), Shohei Ohtani (1)
• 8/7/22 Jacob deGrom (7), Spencer Strider (1)
• 2020 ALDS G5 Tyler Glasnow (2), Gerrit Cole (1)
• 7/26/16 Noah Syndergaard (10), Carlos Martinez (4)
• 8/30/15 Nathan Eovaldi (16), Julio Teheran (2)
• 4/16/12 Justin Verlander (5), Danny Duffy (1)
Skenes exited after allowing four runs on four hits and two walks with four strikeouts in four innings. Kelly noted the low innings total and pitch count (78) when Skenes came out was a result of continuing to monitor his workload.
Still, even after his most forgettable start this season, Skenes owns a 2.12 ERA and leads the NL with 106 innings pitched.
Skenes has been in the spotlight dating back to his days in college, but the spotlight has never been bigger for him than after winning the NL Rookie of the Year in 2024 and being the NL Cy Young favorite so far in 2025.
The spotlight on Misiorowski seemingly grows every time he pitches. With his own experience in mind, Skenes shared some advice.
“Got to protect yourself, for lack of a better term for it,” Skenes said. “Obviously with the media, but I'm assuming if he walks around Milwaukee now, there are probably going to be more people that recognize him and all that. If he does what he's supposed to do and what everybody thinks he can do, it's not going away anytime soon. So, get used to it and find ways to find peace and that kind of thing with it."
Teammates have helped Misiorowski with that. He said the best advice he’s received is this: “Be where your feet are.”
“He just looks like he’s very grateful to be here,” Brewers closer Trevor Megill said. “It’s not like he’s taking the pressure and putting it on himself. It looks like he’s having fun and being the kid everyone knows he is.”