American Family Field turned into a pitching clinic Friday night as Jacob Misiorowski carved up the Philadelphia Phillies with a complete-game one-hit shutout in the Milwaukee Brewers' 6-0 win. The flamethrowing righty struck out a career-high 15, walked no one, faced the minimum 27 batters and needed only 95 pitches to finish the masterpiece. A stadium scoreboard flashed 105 mph on one of his fastballs, while pitch-tracking data pegged his top speed at 104.5 mph. The crowd rose for a full-throated standing ovation after he fanned Justin Crawford to end the game.
How the Game Unfolded
The final line tells the story: nine innings, one hit, zero walks and 15 strikeouts, as laid out in the official highlights and box score. MLB.com carries the clip of the last out, a foul-tip strike three that capped the shutout. CBS Sports labeled the outing a historic "Maddux" and noted that Misiorowski's 15 strikeouts are the most ever recorded in a complete game of fewer than 100 pitches.
Velocity Record And The 105 Debate
Television graphics briefly clocked one of Misiorowski's heaters at 105 mph, and Fox Sports described it as the fastest pitch ever thrown by a starting pitcher. The raw Statcast data, however, tops him out at 104.5 mph. As Yahoo Sports points out, that kind of discrepancy often comes down to broadcast rounding versus the official tracking numbers. Either way, the radar gun probably needed an ice pack.
Why Brewers Fans Are Buzzing
The gem only tightened Misiorowski's grip on the early-season leaderboards. He took the mound Friday carrying roughly a 1.50 ERA and 116 strikeouts in 78 innings, per Baseball Savant. Both pitcher and manager knew they were in the middle of something special. "When I walked out for the ninth, my whole body shivered," Misiorowski said, while manager Pat Murphy called the performance "as good as it gets," according to The Washington Post. To quantify just how dominant it was, CBS Sports calculated a 100 Game Score for the night, a mark reserved for the rarest of pitching performances.
For Milwaukee, it is the kind of game that will live on in highlight reels for weeks, if not longer. For the rest of the league, it is a loud reminder that opposing hitters now have to prepare for a starter who can regularly touch the 104 to 105 mph range. The next time Misiorowski takes the ball at American Family Field, it may be hard to hear the first-pitch call over the noise.
