Cubs can’t handle Misiorowski’s heat, fall out of first place
The Cubs faced the hardest-throwing starting pitcher of all-time Tuesday at Wrigley Field in Milwaukee's Jacob Misiorowski.
But Ben Brown, even though he recently returned the rotation, has been good too. Heading into this game, Brown's 1.60 ERA on the season was better than Misiorowski's 2.12.
Now that script has been flipped. Brown wasn't as sharp as he has been, Misiorowski shut the Cubs down for 6 innings, an eighth-inning rally fell short and the Brewers won 5-2 to take over first place in the NL Central.
Since the Cubs' 20-3 streak ended in Texas, they've gone 2-8. But there's a long, long way to go. Last year, the Brewers were 21-25 on May 17 and ended up winning 97 games.
“I think that was an outing, I could have gone 6 innings with 10 strikeouts or I also could have gone 3 innings and 8 runs,” Brown said. “The way they're swinging, they're a hot team right now. I think I limited the damage well.”
Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy took it easy on the Cubs, pulling Misiorowski after 6 innings and just 74 pitches. The fireballer allowed 3 hits, 1 walk and struck out eight. Brown continued to build his pitch count as a starter, throwing 82 over 5 innings.
When the game ended, Misiorowski had the better ERA at 1.89, compared to Brown's 2.09. According to OptaStats, Misiorowski is the only pitcher in the modern era to have a four-start span with 30-plus strikeouts, no runs allowed and no extra base hits allowed.
The Cubs got the first two batters on board in the first inning, on a walk and error, but failed to score any runs. After that, it was just 3 scattered singles against Misiorowski.
“Both games of the series, we got the first two guys on to start the game and to not be able to cash in each night, that's frustrating,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “He probably wasn't quite locked in, so we got some base runners on, (then) thought we took some good swings and just missed some balls.
“He got locked in, and so you're stuck in between of trying to get into a count or attack him early, and he just pumps a ton of strikes. You've got to be aggressive. Sitting there hitting with two strikes, you're going to be in trouble.”
On May 8, Misiorowski threw the hardest pitch ever recorded by Statcast from a starting pitcher (not a one-inning opener), 103.6 miles per hour in the second inning of a home game against the Yankees.
The Cubs actually did not get that version of Misiorowski. He peaked at 101.5 mph, on a fourth inning four-seam to Alex Bregman.
The game stayed within reach at 3-0, since Brown worked his way out of a few jams. Then Brice Turang hit a two-out, 2-run homer off Trent Thornton in the top of the eighth to make it 5-0, which proved to be huge when the Cubs finally put a rally together.
They strung together 3 hits, then scored twice on Nico Hoerner's RBI single, then a Seiya Suzuki infield single. But with the bases-loaded, pinch-hitter Michael Conforto grounded to second. The turning point in the inning was Michael Busch and Bregman taking called third strikes with two runners on.
Cubs notes
Before the game, the Cubs activated reliever Caleb Thielbar from the injured list, while Ty Blach was designated for assignment. … According to multiple reports, Pete Crow-Armstrong was fined $5,000 by MLB for his verbal interaction with a fan Sunday at Rate Field.