Clayton Kershaw took the mound Tuesday night under more normal circumstances after having reached 3,000 career strikeouts his last time out.
But it also was with the Los Angeles Dodgers in the midst of a four-game losing streak and facing talented Milwaukee Brewers rookie Jacob Misiorowski. When asked about the young righty the night before their matchup, Kershaw said he wasn’t much aware of Misiorowski other than being the pitcher who twisted his ankle while warming up between innings of a no-hitter.
Just over 24 hours later, Kershaw and the Dodgers got a firsthand look at what’s made Misiorowski so impressive to begin his career.
Following the Dodgers’ 3-1 loss, Kershaw said he was now fully aware of Misiorowski and credited the 23-year-old for his impressive performance, via SportsNet LA
“I know him now, huh?. That was super impressive. That was unbelievable. It was really special. I mean, everything. Obviously the velo, but he’s got four pitches, commands the ball and made it — I mean, I don’t know how you hit that, honestly. That’s just really tough.”
Kershaw has regularly downplayed pitching matchups throughout his career, but did acknowledge there was a sense of going toe-to-toe with Misiorowski after Shohei Ohtani’s leadoff home run gave the Dodgers a lead:
“You try to match the guy, for sure. Shohei hits that homer there, you try to make that stand up. Unfortunately that fourth inning, just gave up one too many.”
Kershaw kept the Dodgers’ 1-0 advantage intact until a fateful fourth inning that saw the Brewers score two runs. Their rally started on a William Contreras infield single that rolled up the third-base line and stayed fair. It was the second such hit of the game for Contreras.
Andrew Vaughn’s RBI base hit tied the game with one out and Milwaukee then took a 2-1 lead on Isaac Collins’ chopper that got by a diving Miguel Rojas and skipped off Mookie Betts’ glove to carry into left field for a single.
While Kershaw and the Dodgers came up short, it wasn’t due to his not pitching well. Kershaw held the Brewers to just the two runs and completed six innings.
Jacob Misiorowski sets career high vs. Dodgers
While Misiorowski gave up a leadoff home run to Ohtani, he struck out the next three batters faced to emphatically set the tone for the fifth start of his career.
Misiorowski had 10 strikeouts through four innings and finished with 12 in the game. His previous career high was eight strikeouts.
Misiorowski’s 12 strikeouts through five innings tied for the most in MLB history during the pitch tracking era (since 2008).
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