'It's phenomenal': Crew, Bucs see remarkable fan reaction to Miz-Skenes matchup

MILWAUKEE -- Scott and Pat Szalanski of Franklin, Wis., secured tickets long ago for Wednesday afternoon’s series finale between the Brewers and Pirates. It was a birthday present for grandson Ryan, who will turn 14 during the Brewers’ next road trip.

Little did they know, they were buying the hottest ticket in town.

The pitching matchup of young fireballers Paul Skenes and Jacob Misiorowski produced a buzz -- and a crowd -- rivaling Opening Day or a postseason matinee in Milwaukee, with a standing room only crowd packed into American Family Field for a 4-2 Brewers' win on a weekday afternoon in June.

“When I found out who was going to pitch,” said Pat, “I called Ryan right away. ‘We’re going to see him pitch!’”

“Him” in this context was Misiorowski, the Brewers' 6-foot-7 top pitching prospect who started his big league career with triple-digit fastballs and 11 hitless innings over two starts against the Cardinals and Twins before finally yielding a homer for his only hit he’s allowed going into Wednesday’s matchup with reigning NL Rookie of the Year Skenes.

Once that matchup crystallized in the pitching probables on Sunday, tickets went fast. As of that afternoon, the Brewers had pre-sold about 26,000 seats for Wednesday’s finale against the Pirates, and the team was projecting a crowd of about 30,000, said Brewers president of business operations Rick Schlesinger.

The final paid attendance was 42,774, making it the best-attended game of the season in Milwaukee -- ahead of the home opener or any of the Brewers’ home games so far against the Cubs.

In the game, it was the rookie Misiorowski who bested Skenes. Misiorowski scattered two hits and walked two while striking out a career-high eight in five innings. Skenes allowed four runs on four hits with two walks in four innings. And yes, Misiorowski noticed the big crowd.

“Oh yeah, definitely,” he said. “That’s what fired me up almost every inning. It’s like, ‘OK, all of these people are here to watch. Let’s go.’”

Schlesinger was curious to find a comparable crowd for a weekday, non-holiday, non-Cubs game, so he checked the records. He had to go all the way back to an August 2011 game against the Dodgers, when Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun and the Brewers were cruising toward the franchise’s first division title in 29 years.

“That gives you a sense of the remarkable fan reaction to seeing this matchup,” Schlesinger said. “It’s phenomenal. And it’s a lot of pressure on the kid in his third Major League start. It’s a lot of weight to put on anybody, but the fans recognize the magic of what we’re seeing from these two young pitchers.”

And for the players?

It was just another Wednesday.

“I get it, but in our minds, it’s just another day in the Major Leagues,” Brewers veteran Christian Yelich said. “You face talented pitchers every single day.”

Yelich was once a top prospect for the Marlins, but didn’t arrive in the Majors with anything resembling the spotlight that has followed the rise of Misiorowski and baseball’s other budding stars in the MLB Pipeline era. With each year, fans are more educated about the Minor Leagues and more eager to see talented players to break through, fans like freelance writer Kristofor Brown of Dousman, Wis., who walked up to a window at the ballpark on Wednesday morning to buy one of the remaining standing room only tickets.

“I’ve been coming to games since I was a kid in the ‘70s. I was here for two World Series games, for Game 5 [of the 1982 ALCS] when they beat the Angels, and this is the most fired up I’ve been to watch a game since then,” Brown said. “If you’re going to see one game all year in the regular season, this is it.”

First in line at one of the queues behind home plate was J. Morgan Harter, an aspiring college basketball coach who was on the staff at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh last season and is looking for his next opportunity. In the meantime, he was able to attend all three games of this series -- but said the anticipation for Wednesday’s finale was on another level.

“Nothing comes to mind like this. Certainly nothing this season,” said Harter, who was eager to see Misiorowski in the flesh for the first time. “He’s certainly confident, which is a huge part of it. You don’t see the trepidation of a young guy coming up to the league for the first time.”

Other fans were fortunate to stumble into the magical matchup, like Josh Doughty and his family from Winneconne, Wis. They’re used to seeing Brewers prospects with the High-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers nearby, but make one trip to Milwaukee per summer to see the Brewers, and Wednesday happened to be the day.

“My bowling team was talking about coming to the game, but I told them we already had tickets,” Doughty said. “Once they heard the matchup, they were definitely intrigued.”

A few grills away from the Doughtys in the parking lot was a quartet of former Lakeland College fraternity brothers sitting around a card table playing Euchre. Ron Prohl from Shorewood, Ill., Irv Paul from Fishers, Ind., Bob Low from Brillion, Wis., and Bob Phillips from Palos Heights, Ill., meet in Milwaukee every summer to attend one Brewers series.

This happened to be the series.

“It’s just the luck of the draw with the two pitchers,” said Prohl.

The Scaglione family from Pittsburgh likewise lucked out. They came to Milwaukee on Sunday planning to attend the first two games of the series, thinking they would see Skenes on Tuesday night. When a rainout rejiggered the schedule and it became clear he’d pitch Wednesday, they extended their trip one more day

“We haven’t seen him yet, even though we live in Pittsburgh,” said Joe Scaglione, who attended with his brother John and sons Johnny and Ashton. “We barely got tickets this morning.”

By 1:10 p.m. CT they were all in position to see Misiorowski start the day with a 100 mph fastball. Ryan Szalanski, the grandson about to celebrate a birthday, received an extra present. Grandma and grandpa bought him one of the Misiorowski jerseys which had been produced by hand by the Brewers while they wait for a full shipment of merchandise to arrive.

“Skenes might be better, but he’s more experienced [than Misiorowski],” Szalanski said. “It should be a good matchup for a long time.”