The Milwaukee Brewers will turn to hard-throwing Jacob Misiorowski on Wednesday afternoon in the deciding contest of a three-game series against the visiting Tampa Bay Rays.
The Rays will counter with fellow right-hander Drew Rasmussen (0-0. 1.80 ERA). Both Rasmussen and Misiorowski (1-0, 1.80) were effective in their Opening Day starts.
The Brewers bounced back from their only loss of the season and evened the series vs. the Rays with a 6-2 victory on Tuesday.
Milwaukee’s Brandon Woodruff threw five solid innings while making his first start since a season-ending injury last September. Woodruff, who also missed the entire 2024 season recovering from shoulder surgery, gave up a pair of solo homers in five innings, allowing four hits with six strikeouts without a walk.
The Brewers erased a 2-0 deficit with three runs in the fifth inning against Shane McClanahan.
In his first start, Misiorowski shook off a leadoff homer and yielded just one other hit over the rest of five dominant innings against the Chicago White Sox. He struck out an Opening Day franchise-record 11 batters with three walks in the Brewers’ 14-2 win.
“Sometimes you’ve got to get punched in the face to respond, and I thought Miz did a great job responding,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said about his 23-year-old pitcher, who has never faced Tampa Bay. “I don’t look at it as historic in terms of how the threw the ball. I think he did some really good things and he matured, which we’re hoping for.”
Brice Turang, who had a bases-loaded single to key the Brewers’ rally against McClanahan, has hit safely in all five games this season. He is batting .400 with three RBIs.
Once they got the lead, the Brewers also stole two bases, giving them a franchise-record 13 through five games.
The Brewers received another solid performance from their bullpen on Tuesday. Jared Koenig, Grant Anderson, Abner Uribe and Angel Zerpa followed Woodruff with a scoreless inning apiece. Milwaukee relievers have given up three runs in 22 2/3 innings.
“If we keep going four or five (starter innings), we’re going to have some tired relievers,” Murphy said.
The Rays are wrapping up the second series in their nine-game road trip to open the season.
Rasmussen also allowed only a solo homer over five innings on Opening Day but did not get a decision in a 9-7 loss at St. Louis. Tampa Bay’s bullpen gave up eight runs in the sixth after the Rays scored six in the top of the inning.
“If they had stopped at three, I would have been back out there for the sixth,” Rasmussen said. “I mean, if we’re going to score seven consistently, we’re going to win a lot of games this year.”
Rasmussen, who began his career in Milwaukee, has faced the Brewers just once, allowing three runs in five innings and taking the loss in a 4-2 defeat last May.
Chandler Simpson had a single and triple Tuesday night, along with a stolen base. Simpson, batting .444, is the only Rays player to hit safely in all five games this season.
–Field Level Media
