Misiorowski's slider stymies Ohtani, Dodgers
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- Jacob Misiorowski allowed one run on five hits in six innings, striking out Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman with sliders to escape a bases-loaded jam in the fifth inning of the Brewers' 4-1 win over the Dodgers on Saturday.
- Misiorowski improved to 12-5 and lowered his ERA to 1.75, notching his 13th start this season allowing one or zero runs.
- Catcher William Contreras called for a curveball and slider to bookend a 102.4 mph fastball against Ohtani in the fifth, a sequencing change from the six straight fastballs over 102 mph Misiorowski used to retire Ohtani on a popup leading off the game.
- Manager Pat Murphy said Misiorowski "proved to everyone out there thinking, like, 'Hey, this guy can pitch. Is he just a heater?' He executed pitches," pointing to the 24-year-old's evolving repertoire as a sign of his development.
- Shohei Ohtani drove in the Dodgers' lone run with a third-inning triple, a choppy grounder that bounced over first baseman Gary Sánchez into the right-field corner; Murphy said inducing the ground ball was the goal against Ohtani, not a mistake by Misiorowski.
- The Brewers took two of the first three games in the four-game series against the Dodgers, a showdown of division leaders jockeying for home-field advantage in a potential October rematch.
- Misiorowski previously faced the Dodgers in Game 3 of last year's NL Championship Series at Dodger Stadium, taking the loss in a 3-1 defeat before Los Angeles swept Milwaukee and won a second straight World Series title — an experience he said "gave me more confidence going into this year."
Why it matters: Milwaukee clinched a better regular-season record than the Dodgers in this four-game series (2-1 through three games), a tangible home-field edge if the two division leaders meet again in October — and Misiorowski's pitch-mix evolution, not just his 102 mph heater, is the development Brewers staff are pointing to as proof he can beat L.A. in a rematch.
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