The Milwaukee Brewers are in line to start ace Jacob Misiorowski in Friday's series opener at the Atlanta Braves, the result of pre-scheduled extra rest, according to Brewers president of baseball operations Matt Arnold, who said on Sunday.
Misiorowski came out of his complete-game shutout of the Philadelphia Phillies feeling "great," Arnold said. The extra rest will take him out of a home start against the Cleveland Guardians, but will have him fully ready to take on the Braves.
Misiorowski, 24, is 8-2 with a league-leading 1.34 earned run average and is coming off his best performance of his career. He struck out 15 and allowed one hit Friday, needing 96 pitches in a 6-0 win. He has posted a 0.17 ERA since May 1 and leads the majors with 131 strikeouts.
The Brewers, who traded former ace Freddy Peralta to the New York Mets in the offseason, have leaned on Misiorowski as injuries thinned the rotation. Brandon Woodruff, Quinn Priester and Logan Henderson have all spent time on the injured list.
Friday also returns Misiorowski to Atlanta, where he pitched in last year's All-Star Game after being selected despite criticism around the league over his low number of starts. He enters as an All-Star front-runner again and a candidate to start the Midsummer Classic.
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If Misiorowski carries his current form into Truist Park, the Brewers will send out their best arm in one of their toughest road tests of the first half. Atlanta is the kind of opponent Milwaukee could meet again in October, and a strong start would tell the Brewers plenty about how their ace measures up against MLB's best with a long stretch still ahead.
