MILWAUKEE — In an era of strikeout inflation, it’s hard for whiff totals to stand out anymore, but what Brewers starter Jacob Misiorowski and his bullpen cohorts did on Opening Day would be an eye-opener in any era.
After allowing a leadoff homer to the White Sox‘s Chase Meidroth — the first Opening Day leadoff homer in Chicago’s long history — Misiorowski and four Milwaukee relievers buried the ChiSox in an avalanche of 20 strikeouts, leading a 14-2 Brewers rout on Thursday.
By the time Misiorowski departed after five innings, that home run was the only tally he’d allowed and he’d rung up 11 strikeouts — three more than any Brewers pitcher before him had ever racked up on Opening Day.
Guess the homer didn’t rattle him.
“Opening days are wild,” Misiorowski said. “There’s a lot of stuff going on, giant flag through the outfield. So it’s cool to see, but there’s a lot of emotion, trying to figure it out. Giving up the home run sucks, but the guy got to it. So, oh, well, move on.”
Misiorowski’s electric, triple-digit fastball put him on the map when he reached the major leagues last season, earning so much acclaim that he was selected to the National League All-Star team despite having just five career starts under his belt. He wasn’t hitting 100 miles per hour much on Opening Day — it’s too early in the season for that — but his stuff was good enough to induce 24 swing-and-misses by Chicago hitters.
“A lot of [vertical],” Misiorowski said. “It was working today.”
The game was largely out of hand when Misiorowski departed, but Andy Ashby, Grant Anderson, DL Hall and Jake Woodford kept the strikeouts coming — nine more over the last four innings. Hall and Woodford both struck out the side in their lone frames.
When Woodford struck out Chicago pinch-hitter Derek Hill to end it, that gave the Brewers a nice, round 20. That set a new franchise mark and tied the MLB record for the most team strikeouts in a nine-inning game. It’s the first time a team has recorded that many in nine innings on Opening Day.
Not a bad start. The strikeouts came so fast and furious that most of the assembled media during game were unaware that the Brewers had tied such a lofty mark. Then manager Pat Murphy surmised as much after inquiring what the MLB record was.
“I don’t look at it as historic in terms of how [Misiorowski] threw the ball,” Murphy said. “I think he did some really good things, and he matured, which we’re hoping for. I think that’s the thing to get excited about.”
Ten teams had struck out 20 batters in a nine-inning game, according to the Brewers. The last was the Mets, who did it against Pittsburgh on Sept. 18, 2022.
