DENVER – There was plenty to smile about in the visiting dugout at Coors Field on a sweltering June 6 evening.
Brice Turang, playing in front of his four sisters and mother, homered twice. William Contreras snapped out of a funk with a majestic crest of a blast. Jake Bauers’ unexpected all-star push gained more legitimacy. Most importantly, the Milwaukee Brewers won, 7-1, over the Colorado Rockies.
But the defining image of the night – and perhaps the young season – was not of laughter or joy on a night filled to the brim with it for the Brewers.
It was of a stern Jacob Misiorowski, glaring intensely into the dugout at manager Pat Murphy.
First, Misiorowski, with runners on the corners in the bottom of the seventh and sporting a 5-1 lead, turned to Contreras and shouted six times at him the same word as the catcher approached the mound.
“No.”
Then, Misiorowski shifted his ardency to Murphy with a stare. He said nothing. He didn’t need to.
“Don’t take it out of my hands,” Misiorowski said. “It’s plain and simple.”
It would have been understandable if that was the end of the line for Misiorowski. He was at 91 pitches while pitching a mile above sea level and had just given up the hardest-hit ball of the night on his slowest fastball of the game.
But, if he had any say, he was going to finish what began at 10:05 p.m. the evening before when Misiorowski stepped aside from the post-victory handshake line and atop the mound at Coors Field and pantomimed a few pitches.
And he did.
In the latest showcase of history-making dominance from Misiorowski, he toed the rubber following his piercing stare and struck out the final two Rockies batters to complete the seventh, capping his night with 101.3 mph on the black on pitch number 98.
“He just said, ‘I want this. I want to stay,'” Murphy said. “Middle of the order was up and he wanted to finish what he started. He understood the ramifications for having to bring in leverage relievers and he came up big. He pitched there. He didn’t just blow people away. He pitched. I thought it was a really good sign.”
Box score | Standings
That heater to freeze Sterlin Thompson, followed by chants of “Miz!” from the strong contingent of Brewers fans at the park, capped another Misiorowski masterpiece: Seven innings, no earned runs, four hits, eight strikeouts.
To turn in that line, Misiorowski showcased all the pieces that have made him baseball’s leader in strikeouts, WHIP, batting average against and strikeout-to-walk percentage.
His first 30 fastballs all hit triple digits, including a 103.7-mph pitch to Kyle Karros that was the fastest pitch ever tracked by a starting pitcher. He had to remain composed on the mound in the sixth after hitting Rockies right fielder Tyler Freeman in the helmet in a frightening moment. Then he had to wiggle out of another big spot in the seventh to save the bullpen.
“That’s been No. 1 this year: The maturity has been tremendous,” Murphy said. “We got to take note of what this guy has done. Pitching isn’t this easy in the big leagues. To be as consistent as this guy has been over the last how many outings is remarkable. I don’t know how many guys are doing that.”
The answer is none. Misiorowski lowered his earned run average over his last seven starts to 0.20, which is the lowest by any starting pitcher (minimum 15 innings thrown) since MLB lowered the mound in 1969.
“Thanks to God he’s on our side,” Contreras said. “I think we know what kind of pitcher Miz is. I don’t think there’s anybody in the league that wants to face him.”
Brewers offense pops off for five homers
While Misiorowski conquered Coors, the offense took advantage of it, bopping a season-best five home runs, all of the solo variety. Turang had two while Contreras, Jake Bauers and the suddenly-potent David Hamilton added one apiece.
Turang got the bash underway in the first when, roughly 90 minutes after completing a show in batting practice in which he smashed baseballs to the upper decks repeatedly, he took the first pitch he saw from Rockies starter Zach Agnos and sent it 444 feet to dead center for his eighth homer to open the scoring in the first.
Turang’s blast, which left the bat at 105.5 mph, was the third straight batted ball over 100 mph by the Brewers, following a line out by Christian Yelich and Jackson Chourio grounder.
They would get more.
Hamilton didn’t go deep a single time in his first 43 games of 2026, but his 426-smash to center in the second marked his third in the last nine games.
When Turang and Bauers, who walked four times before homering, both hit opposite-field homers in the eighth, it gave Milwaukee its first five-homer game since doing so on Aug. 12, 2025, in a contest started by Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes.
William Contreras gets a much-needed swing
When Contreras sent Brennan Bernardino’s offering high into the dry sky with one away in the seventh to give Milwaukee only its third three-homer game of the year, it was his first homer since May 22 and second since April.
Contreras had been mired in a string of atypical at-bats entering the day. Not only was he 3 for his last 30 coming in, but the majority of his trips to the plate were unusually curt.
Over his previous 10 games, Contreras had seen only 90 pitches. That came out to fewer than three per plate appearance and less than half of how many Bauers and Yelich had seen. He also coupled it with a 45% chase rate in that span.
That led to a conversation with Murphy the day prior in the skipper’s office.
“William, his standards for himself are so high and he hasn’t been swinging it good lately,” Murphy said. “He hasn’t been swinging at strikes. He hasn’t demanded [the pitcher] treat him right and give him a pitch in the zone. He’s gotten himself out a bunch. For him to come through today was big.”
Successful challenge
Contreras also may have made the play of the day on defense with so much as a helmet tap.
Immediately following Freeman’s hit-by-pitch and departure, Misiorowski was visibly impacted.
“It sucks,” he said. “I lost the ball, lost the grip on it. Obviously not aiming to hurt him. There’s a moment of standing behind the mound trying to pray for him a little bit that I can.”
On his first pitch to TJ Rumfield once play resumed, Misiorowski threw a ball. With two on and nobody out in a 2-1 game, Contreras challenged it and did so successfully, flipping the count and getting the inning back on track.
Misiorowski capped the inning with a grounder to second to strand the bases loaded and let out a primal yell on his way off the mound.
“After the game, one of our elite baseball people mentioned to me they thought that was the key to the game,” Murphy said. “Miz could have been affected and that changes that at-bat. Great challenge by William.”
Drew Rom promoted
The Brewers selected the contract of left-hander Drew Rom and placed Brian Fitzpatrick on the 15-day injured list with a left elbow injury.
Fitzpatrick left the prior night’s game in immense pain and holding his elbow.
Rom, a non-roster invitee to spring training who appeared in eight games with St. Louis in 2023, had a 3.04 ERA and 39 strikeouts in 26 ⅔ innings with Class AAA Nashville.
Brewers probable pitchers and schedule
Brewers at Rockies, June 7, 2:10 p.m.: Milwaukee LHP Shane Drohan (2-1, 2.87) vs. Colorado LHP Kyle Freeland (1-6, 8.06). TV – Brewers.TV. Radio – AM-620 WTMJ.
Brewers at Athletics (in Las Vegas), June 8, 9:05 p.m.: Milwaukee LHP Kyle Harrison (7-1, 1.57) vs. Sacramento LHP Jeffrey Springs (3-6, 4.37) TV – Brewers.TV. Radio – AM-620 WTMJ.
Brewers at Athletics (in Las Vegas), June 9, 9:05 p.m.: Milwaukee LHP Robert Gasser (0-2, 4.73) vs. Sacramento RHP J.T. Ginn (3-3, 2.74). TV – Brewers.TV. Radio – AM-620 WTMJ.
Brewers at Athletics (in Las Vegas), June 10, 8:05 p.m.: Milwaukee TBA vs. Sacramento RHP Jack Perkins (2-3, 6.19). TV – Brewers.TV. Radio – AM-620 WTMJ.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Jacob Misiorowski makes more history, this time by conquering Coors in 7-1 win
Reporting by Curt Hogg, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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By Curt Hogg, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
