Jacob Misiorowski pumped his fist in the air. After struggling to locate his stuff for most of the night, the Milwaukee Brewers ace got Shohei Ohtani to bite on back-to-back perfectly placed pitches: a 91-mph slider just below the zone that Ohtani would've needed a golf swing for, followed by a 100.8 mph fastball right on the upper inside corner of the plate for strike three to get out of the top of the third inning.
He needed that one.
The Brewers gave the ball to the 24-year-old Cy Young frontrunner in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series, trusting him to set the tone for a rematch with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He did just that at first with a 12-pitch first inning, but things quickly unraveled from there.
The Miz's command slipped away from him in the second inning, with the break on his fastball down two inches and his slider down three. The Dodgers, for their part, were more than happy to watch Misiorowski miss the zone. Shohei Ohtani walked on four pitches to lead off the frame; he came around to score the first run of the game on singles from Teoscar Hernández and Andy Pages. Kyle Tucker then worked a 10-pitch walk to load the bases, but the Miz was able to get out of the jam by getting Kiké Hernández to ground into a double play to retire the side after throwing 35 pitches.
In addition to issues with his command, Misiorowski struggled to put guys away with two strikes. Furthermore, the MLB's strikeout leader this season couldn't draw swings-and-misses early on with just four total whiffs through his 47 pitches in the first two innings. He started to look more like himself in his final two frames, though, getting five strikeouts but his whiff rate Sunday was still a mere 24%.
Nevertheless, Misiorowski was able to settle in, limiting the damage to just one earned run in 4.1 innings. But with 94 pitches thrown, five hits and three walks allowed in that timeframe, that was the most the Brewers could ask from their ace as the Miz got a standing ovation at American Family Field when he walked off the mound.
DL Hall entered the game in his place, inheritng Mookie Betts on first base with one out in the inning.
Despite not having his best outing, Misiorowski somehow did enough to keep the Brewers in it with Tarik Skubal on the opposite mound. Brice Turang rewarded his efforts with a solo home run off of Skubal to tie the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the fourth.
"As he's matured this year, you've seen huge changes in this kid on how he's handled situations," manager Pat Murphy told reporters pregame. "He's not just excited to get out of the first. He doesn't want to burn any more energy. He wants to get out of the seventh."
A year ago, Jacob Misiorowski wasn't sure if he would make the postseason roster for the Milwaukee Brewers. He did, making three solid outings out of the bullpen before the Brewers were ultimately swept out of the NLCS by the Los Angeles Dodgers.
This year, though, Misiorowski emerged as an ace, and one of the best in baseball at that.
If you ask him, not much has changed mechanically over the past year. The Miz is still a flamethrower with a fastball topping out at 105 mph (his first pitch on Sunday was a 102 mph heater), and now he's much more comfortable attacking the strike zone with his stuff. He attributes that to simply being more confident with a year of big league experience under his belt.
"The only thing is confidence," he told reporters on Saturday. "I think that was the big one. Going into last year's postseason, I didn't know if I was going to be on the roster. I didn't know if I was going to make it and help the team. This year they trust me a little bit more. So it's a little easier to get behind yourself."
Here's how Misiorowski fared in Sunday's outing against the Dodgers:
Jacob Misiorowski stats today Dodgers
- Innings pitched: 4.1
- Hits allowed: 5
- Runs allowed: 1
- Earned runs allowed: 1
- Walks: 3
- Strikeouts: 5
- Pitches thrown: 94
- Strikes thrown: 60
Jacob Misiorowski highlights
Jacob Misiorowski gets Kiké Hernández to ground into an inning-ending double play to limit the damage in the 1st pic.twitter.com/z9ST5lyO3g
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 12, 2026
Jacob Misiorowski is FIRED UP after striking out Shohei Ohtani to end the 3rd!@MLBONFOXpic.twitter.com/9TARmGorAs
— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) October 12, 2026
Misiorowski with a fist pump as he gets out of another inning via the strikeout
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 12, 2026
📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/DJWKivi5DP
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How did Jacob Misiorowski pitch tonight? NLCS Game 1 stats vs Dodgers