Brewers waste Jacob Misiorowski's record-breaking performance in Game 3 loss

Despite the uncertainty surrounding Jacob Misiorowski's role with the Milwaukee Brewers leading up to the postseason, he has stepped up in a major way when called upon throughout the NLDS and NLCS. Each time out, he has looked sharper, while covering the bulk of the Brewers' innings out of the bullpen.

Against the Chicago Cubs, he pitched three scoreless innings in Game 2, but walked a pair of batters, and there were glimpses of the command issues that have plagued him at times throughout his young career. Then, during the elimination Game 5, he covered four innings, didn't walk a batter, and his only blemish was giving up a solo home run to Seiya Suzuki.

Most recently, Misiorowski was used in Game 3 of the NLCS last night, where against the Los Angeles Dodgers' historic offense, he put together his best playoff performance yet. The Miz managed to set a Brewers postseason rookie record that coincidentally was established against Los Angeles in 2018, as noted by Brian Anderson on the TBS broadcast, among others.

In a losing effort, Jacob Misiorowski set a Milwaukee Brewers postseason rookie record for most strikeouts in a single game

In Game 3, Misiorowski pitched 5.0 innings for the Brewers, initially appearing in the first inning and cleaning up a mess left by opener Aaron Ashby. Misiorowski went on to strike out nine Dodgers over the course of his NLCS debut, one more than Brandon Woodruff racked up in Game 5 of the 2018 NLCS, which, at the time, was a Brewers rookie postseason record for strikeouts in a single game.

During last night's outing, Misiorowski racked up 15 total whiffs, eight with his slider, four with the curveball, and three with his fastball. His ability to mix all three pitches effectively kept hitters off balance throughout. He leaned most heavily on the slider at 41%, followed by the fastball at 34%, and the curveball at 25%, as outlined on Baseball Savant.

Unfortunately, his valiant effort resulted in a losing decision, as he undeservingly got tagged with the loss and Milwaukee fell by a score of 3-1. Ironically, the Brewers also lost Woodruff's outing in 2018 when he infamously relieved Wade Miley after one batter faced and went on to strike out eight over 5.1 innings pitched.

Milwaukee is in a much bigger hole this year than in 2018, when that year's squad won the opening game at home as well as the first contest in Los Angeles. A path to a comeback is steep, and if the Brewers hope to turn the tide, it may take more record-breaking performances, both on the mound and at the plate, to keep their postseason hopes alive.