Cubs manager Craig Counsell faces a steep challenge in an upcoming series.
The Chicago Cubs are off to a blazing start after 70 games. Their 42-28 record is just five games off the pace set by the 2016 Cubs team that went on to win 103 regular season games, followed by their first World Series victory since 1908.
But they have now lost four of their last six games and six of their last nine. On Friday, they faced Pittsburgh Pirates 23-year-old sophomore sensation Paul Skenes, who held the Cubs scoreless through five innings on the way to a 2-1, 10-inning Pirates victory.
On Tuesday, after two more games against the Pirates and an off-day, the Cubs open a crucial three-game series against their closest competition in the National League Central Division, the Milwaukee Brewers.
And in that series, possibly as early as Tuesday — the Cubs learned on Friday — they will have to face another young mound phenom, Milwaukee’s top pitching prospect Jacob Misiorowski.
Jacob Misiorowski’s First 2 Pitches in the Majors.
Pure Jet Fuel 😳
‘Miz’ Called Up Specifically to Face Cubs
The Brewers called up the lanky, six-foot-seven-inch fireballer from the Triple-A Nashville Sounds on Tuesday, with the specific intention of pitching him against the Cubs. The Brewers were so determined to get Misiorowski in their rotation that they demoted starter Aaron Civale to the bullpen, causing the 30-year-old, seven-year veteran to become so disgruntled that he demanded a trade.
On Friday, the Brewers accommodated Civale, shipping him to Chicago — but not to the first place Cubs. Instead, the Brewers sent Civale to the White Sox, the last-place team in the American League Central.
But the Cubs’ hopes of missing Misiorowski were raised after the 23-year-old made his big league debut on Thursday, ending his outing in bizarre fashion when, in the middle of pitching a no-hitter, he appeared to roll his ankle between pitches on the mound to start the sixth inning and was forced to leave the game.
This is the most Brewers thing ever: Jacob Misiorowski has a no-hitter through five innings of his Major League debut and destroys his ankle walking back to the pitcher’s mound.
The injury came after, in addition to allowing no hits with five strikeouts, Misiorowski threw a total of 14 fastballs over 100 miles per hour, including the first three he threw in the Major Leagues, and 11 of his first 24. He ended up throwing 81 total pitches in his debut outing.
But if the Cubs were hoping that they would avoid having to face Misiorowski, on Friday it became clear that there would be no such good news.
Young Phenom is Fine After Ankle Scare
“Misiorowski had a little ankle swelling today but said it’s nothing notable, and nothing that would impact his next start,” reported Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. “Plan is to keep the pitchers in line following the off day, Pat Murphy said, so Miz’s next start looks like a big one: Wrigley Field vs. the Cubs.”
Jacob Misiorowski is A-OK, though he could use a good night’s sleep. (Also he had no clue he was working on a no-hitter.)
With his first start coming on Wednesday, and with the Brewers planning to keep their rotation intact despite their Monday off-day, it appears that “Miz” will face the Cubs on Wednesday, June 18, in a night game at Wrigley.
Along with Brewers closer Trevor Megill and set-up man Abner Uribe, Misiorowski is now the third member of the Milwaukee pitching staff who regularly unleashes pitches clocked at 100 mph or faster.
The Cubs selected Misiorowski in the second round of the 2022 draft, out of Crowder College, a community college in Missouri. Misiorowski grew up in Grain Valley, Missouri, about 25 miles east of Kansas City.
