Well, here we are, at Game 5 of the World Series. Tell a Brewer fan before the series that they’d have a chance to finish it in the fifth game—with Jacob Misiorowski on the mound—and they’d probably feel pretty good. But losses hurt when they happen, so the angst amongst the Milwaukee faithful has been palpable since last night’s walk-off loss. It’s understandable.
Now, this Brewer team will have to show us what it can do with blood in its mouth. Luckily, they get to do so with their ace, Jacob Misiorowski,
on the hill. Tampa Bay is also sending an ace to the mound, but one would think that Misiorowski will have the advantage here; Drew Rasmussen will start tonight on just three days rest, having thrown 89 pitches in Saturday’s Game 2. Misiorowski, who started a day earlier in Game 1, threw just 78 pitches in his five innings.
That Game 1 start was encouraging for the Brewers, even if Miz hasn’t been able to capture the Cy Young form that he showcased early this summer. On Friday, he put up a line of five innings, four hits, one walk, and one just one run. With only three strikeouts, we’re witnessing a different version of Misiorowski; his struggles locating his off-speed pitches have turned him into more of a “pitch-to-contact” guy, but having a 102 mph fastball still works heavily to your advantage when you have to pitch to contact. Misiorowski is pretty clearly tired: he has now thrown 188 innings combined between the regular season and the playoffs, after his full-season total last season was 141 1/3, combined between the minors, the major-league regular season, and the playoffs. Can he find the magic one more time at exactly the right moment?
Rasmussen, who came into this series with the best numbers of any pitcher this postseason, struggled on Saturday. He too has now far exceeded his previous career high in innings (196 2/3, after 150 last season), and pitching him on short rest is a little bit of a surprise—the Rays have been vocal about trying to protect his arm, given his history: he’s had two Tommy John surgeries and an internal brace procedure. If the Brewers are on him like they were on Saturday, then the pitch count question may not matter; he was chased in the fourth in that game, and finished with six hits, two walks, and three runs allowed in 3 2/3 innings.
The state of each team’s bullpen is up in the air, too, after last night’s marathon. The off-day tomorrow allows both managers to continue to be aggressive with their bullpen, and Robert Gasser’s big-time performance on Monday means that only Antonio Senzatela has pitched in both games in Tampa for the Brewers. JoJo Romero and Trevor Megill both worked an inning or less last night and figure to be full go tonight; Dustin May figures to be unavailable after his three innings, and keep an eye on Abner Uribe (19 pitches), DL Hall (24), and Aaron Ashby (31), who all pitched more than an inning. On the Rays side, Tyler Wells, Ian Seymour, and Bryan Baker all threw over 20 pitches, and Nick Martinez, who threw two innings and is normally a starter, probably isn’t available.
There may have been some question about Junior Caminero’s availability after the extent to which he was limping at the end of the game, but who knows how much of that was performative—he looked pretty spry when he needed to get from first to third on a base hit. In any case, he’s back in the lineup tonight. On the Milwaukee side, they’ll keep the lineup they used in Game 4, which was the same as the first three games except for the swap between Sal Frelick (batting sixth) and Garrett Mitchell (eighth).
It’s a big night. Milwaukee, who had terrible batted ball luck on Tuesday, will look to keep doing what they were doing at the plate but with a few more lucky bounces. They’ll need to play a clean game defensively. And they’ll hope their young ace can conjure up a little more Cy Young magic this season. If those things happen, the Brewers can lift a trophy tonight.
First pitch is at 7:08 p.m. on Fox and the Brewers Radio Network.
