The New York Mets couldn't hit Jacob Misiorowski last night, even though he literally couldn't find his footing.
The New York Mets ran into a buzzsaw named Jacob Misiorowski last night, even if the conditions were subpar. Misiorowski struggled with a soft mound that lowered his velocity to well below the usual 100+ mph, but he still threw four shutout innings and gave up just two runs in six frames to lead Milwaukee to an 8-2 win over the Mets at Citi Field.
The right-hander’s problem is that his height means his landing spot his further down the mound than almost any other pitcher in baseball. That means he doesn’t always land on the clay that’s put down to accommodate starting pitchers, and instead he lands in what Adam McCalvy of MLB.com called “mush.”
The mound became even softer than usual due to the persistent rain, and by the fourth inning Misiorowski had to call out the grounds crew at Citi Field to firm up th conditions.
“The grounds crew was really working hard to try and get it figured out,” Misiorowski said. “We’d get it fixed for a batter or two and then I’d dig out just from landing and it would crumble away back to where the mud was. It was a part of the day, and it was what it was.”
It also dropped his velocity down as low as 96 mph on some of the pitcher’s fastball, and that’s not typically where Misiorowski lives. He finally gave up two runs in the fifth, then righted the ship and finished his outing with a scoreless sixth.
"I think you've got to recognize that he was on point without his best stuff,” Murphy said. “He was slipping and sliding on the mound with both feet, and he still sucked it up. He wanted to go out for the sixth. We gave him the option and he said, ‘No, I want to pitch. It's the top of the order, I want to pitch.’”
Misiorowski seemed unconcerned about what happened, probably because he was able to keep Mets hitters completely baffled and get outs. It’s a tough time of year, especially for power pitchers, so he just did what he had to do.
“Velocity felt like a tick was down because of all of the circumstances,” he said. But it felt good. I felt like I was myself and powered through it.”
The goofy question of the night came when Misiorowski was asked if he might be purposely throttling down to be fresh at the end of the season, and he quickly dismissed the possibility.
“No. I feel just as sharp as I did Opening Day,” Misiorowski said. “I don’t think there’s anything with it. I think it’s just a part of it. The body’s tired. Everyone’s tired. It’s August going into September. It’s part of it.”
