MILWAUKEE — Shohei Ohtani greeted Milwaukee Brewers rookie phenom Jacob Misiorowski with a 431-foot leadoff homer Tuesday night.
Misiorowski, whose fastball routinely tops 100 mph, threw an 88.2 mph curveball on an 0-2 count to the Los Angeles Dodgers ‘ two-way superstar, who crushed it for his 31st homer of the season. That’s the most by a Dodgers player before the All-Star break.
It was the 21st career leadoff homer for Ohtani.
Misiorowski bounced back by striking out the next five batters and departed with a 2-1 lead after fanning a career-high 12 in six innings. The 6-foot-7 right-hander threw 91 pitches, allowed four hits and walked Ohtani in the sixth inning for his only free pass.
Ohtani struck out swinging on a curveball in the third.
Misiorowski topped out at 101.6 mph and threw 20 pitches of at least 100. He also threw 19 curveballs after throwing curves only 10% of the time before Tuesday. The Brewers beat the Dodgers 3-1.
Misiorowski was coming off his first shaky performance. After allowing three hits combined in his first three starts to begin his career 3-0, Misiorowski gave up five runs — including a grand slam to Brandon Nimmo — and three walks over 3⅔ innings Wednesday in a 7-3 loss to the New York Mets.