Jacob Misiorowski to start World Series Game 5 after Brewers fail to sweep Rays
· Yahoo Sports
ST. PETERSBURG, FL – After starting the first game in each of the Milwaukee Brewers’ three playoff series, Jacob Misiorowski also will start what they hope to be their final game of 2026.
A 12-inning, 4-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays kept the Brewers from a World Series sweep, but they’ll have their ace on the mound for Game 5 on Oct. 28 at Tropicana Field.
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“It’s all hands on deck,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said of having the likely National League Cy Young Award winner ready to go.
“You can write it up and hope that they perform like the back of their baseball card, but that doesn’t always happen. You go with what you believe is the deal. I trust our guys. … They put themselves in a position to win”
Milwaukee did that in Game 4 when rookie Cooper Pratt homered to lead off the 12th inning, but then Antonio Senzatela and Shane Drohan failed to get an out in the bottom of the 12th.
After taking it easy on their bullpen in a 10-1 victory a night earlier, the Brewers ran through seven relievers in a game that was tied for six innings before Pratt’s homer.
Although Misiorowski was in the bullpen, Murphy said he didn’t entertain the thought of using him once the Brewers took the lead.
“You can’t blow that type of situation on a one-run lead on the road,” he said. “If we were in the 13th inning and we had a three-run lead, that might have been a little bit different. Probably still wouldn’t have.”
The Rays benefited from an inning-opening error on third baseman Joey Ortiz, who failed to throw out Junior Caminero on a ground ball against the right-hander Senzatela, who’d come into the game in the 11th, and then three singles off the lefty Drohan.
“I was playing it by ear, ready for whatever they needed,” Misiorowski said.
“It’s the World Series.”
Misiorowski went 16-5 in the regular season with a 1.80 ERA but has found the playoffs a bit more of a grind.
His victory in Game 1 of the World Series marked the first time he made it through five innings as the San Diego Padres in the NLDS, the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS and then the Rays all were able to run up his pitch counts early.
In 13⅓ innings in the playoffs Misiorowski has given up 13 hits and six earned runs, as well as five walks. He struck out six in four innings against the Padres, five in 4⅓ against the Dodgers and three in five innings against the Rays to start the World Series.
As a rookie in 2025, Misiorowski went 2-1 in the playoffs, winning two relief appearances and then taking the loss in his start in Game 3 of the NLCS against the Dodgers.
The 24-year-old right-hander has pitched nearly three times as many innings in 2026 as he did in ’25. Although Misiorowski has shown some fatigue, he still threw 40 of his 78 pitches at or above 100 mph in Game 1.
Asked for seeing a playoff opponent a second time in a series or coming back on four days’ rest, Misiorowski shrugged at the thought.
“I’m used to it in the minor leagues, going Tuesday-Sunday, so this isn’t a new phenomenon,” he said.
Misiorowski also faced the Rays in the regular season, throwing six innings in an 8-2 victory April 1 at American Family Field, allowing four hits and two runs while striking out seven.
Asked about how the Brewers shake off the Game 4 loss, Misiorowski said that wasn’t necessarily the goal.
“I think you just build on it,” he said. “You understand what you did right and what you did wrong and move on to the game tomorrow.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Jacob Misiorowski to start World Series Game 5 after Brewers fail to sweep Rays