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08/21 19:41 CDT Braves' Sale says Brewers' Misiorowski has 'probably the most
impressive fastball I've ever seen'
Braves' Sale says Brewers' Misiorowski has 'probably the most impressive
fastball I've ever seen'
By STEVE MEGARGEE
AP Sports Writer
MILWAUKEE (AP) --- Milwaukee Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski outdueled one of his
favorite pitchers and got quite a compliment from him afterward.
"It seems like he's kind of in a league of his own this year," 2024 NL Cy Young
Award winner Chris Sale said after his Braves lost 2-1 to the Brewers on
Friday. "It's probably the most impressive fastball I've ever seen."
That compliment meant plenty to Misiorowski, who has said on multiple occasions
that Sale was one of the pitchers he enjoyed watching the most while growing
up. Misiorowski pitched six shutout innings Friday in his first head-to-head
matchup with Sale, who allowed two runs over six innings.
"It's awesome to hear it from a guy like Sale, such a great guy, definitely a
guy I looked up to --- and still do," Misiorowski said. "It's really cool."
Sale's praise for Misiorowski's fastball came on a day when the Brewers phenom
didn't rely on it nearly as much as usual. He solidified his status as the NL
Cy Young Award favorite by showing he can thrive even when his fastball isn't
at its best.
Misiorowski's 96-pitch outing included 56 four-seam fastballs but also 23
sliders, 14 cutters and three curves. Heading into Friday, Misiorowski was
throwing four-seam fastballs 64% of the time and using his slider on only 11%
of his pitches.
His fastball also didn't have quite as much velocity as usual, at least by
Misiorowski's extraordinary standards. Misiorowski reached a top velocity of
103.1 mph, but that was the only pitch in which he exceeded 101.8. He reached
at least 100 mph in 32 of his pitches.
"Just one of those days where it was just a down day," Misiorowski said. "I had
to grind through it and make it work."
He made it work just fine.
"Today I wasn't seeing the same kind of typical aggression that you usually see
out of the fastball with Miz, but the slider was great," Brewers catcher
William Contreras said through an interpreter. "He's being able to throw the
sliders a little bit more to lefties now as well. Tremendous job by him just
being able to give us different pitches to use whenever the fastball is maybe a
little bit off."
That assortment kept Atlanta's hitters off balance.
Misiorowski (13-5) struck out six batters while allowing four hits and two
walks in his six-inning stint. He has a 1.68 ERA and 216 strikeouts to lead the
majors in both categories. Sale (12-9) has a 2.20 ERA to rank second.
"It's tough," Braves manager Walt Weiss said. "You're gearing up for 100 and
then you're having to deal with cutters and sliders."
Misiorowski needed to be that good to beat Sale, who has allowed three runs or
fewer in an MLB-leading 20 consecutive starts.
The matchup of Cy Young Award contenders on first-place teams featured a
sellout crowd and playoff-type atmosphere. Both pitchers benefited from
outstanding fielding.
"Pitching and defense in that game are as good as you're going to see ---
really high-level stuff," Weiss said.
Braves shortstop Mauricio Dubn made a diving stop to start an inning-ending
double play. Milwaukee's Luis Lara attempted to stretch his single into a
double but got thrown out on a 92.3-mph laser from right fielder Ronald Acua
Jr., according to Statcast.
Lara, who calls Acua his favorite player, had a couple of gems of his own. He
made a leaping catch at the center-field wall to rob Matt Olson of an
extra-base hit in the sixth inning, then moved over to right and snared a
99.3-mph liner from Dubn for the final out of the eighth after Atlanta loaded
the bases.
"I think we've got to change his name tag to ?Air Lara,' " said Misiorowski,
who jokingly asked Lara about that nickname while posing as a reporter during
the rookie outfielder's postgame media session.
With a little help from his friends, Misiorowski won his first head-to-head
matchup with Sale, a player the Brewers right-hander has grown to appreciate
even more now that they've met at the All-Star Game the last two years.
"That's been really cool," Misiorowski said. "That's honestly been probably my
favorite part, just getting to talk to guys like that, that I watched ... and
to get to play (against) now. It's fun. It's really fun."
___
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