Brewers' Jacob Misiorowski Sounds Off On Duel With Pirates' Paul Skenes

It would be foolish to call Wednesday's game at American Family Field a changing of the guard. But there was certainly some symbolism happening on the pitcher's mound.

Pittsburgh Pirates star Paul Skenes faced off against Milwaukee Brewers rookie sensation Misiorowski. And Skenes, who has arguably had the nastiest stuff of any big-league starter since the day he debuted, lost to a pitcher whose stuff simply looked nastier than his.

Misiorowski went five shutout innings, striking out eight Pirates batters and throwing 19 pitches that topped 100 miles per hour on the radar gun. He handed Skenes, who allowed four earned runs, all in the second inning, his seventh loss of the season.

Misiorowski also threw the hardest pitch in recorded history by a Brewer, at a blistering 102.4 miles per hour.

After his first matchup with a division rival who has been everything he hopes to be as a big-leaguer, Misiorowski gave his take on the matchup, which received the kind of hype a June game between two National League Central foes rarely sees.

"It was one of those things where you wanted to try to calm yourself down as much as possible and stay off the Internet,” Misiorowski said, per Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. “I feel like everything that I swiped was like, me and Skenes, me and Skenes, me and Skenes.

“I had to turn it off, had to mute it. It was a good time to spend with the girlfriend.”

To say Misiorowski has been dominant in his three major league starts is an understatement of epic proportions. He's allowed two runs and just three hits through his first 16 innings. Opponents have a batting average of .061, and his WHIP sits at 0.63.

Obviously, there will be struggles for the 23-year-old Misiorowski at some point. But you have a greater margin for error when you can throw the type of gas he has in the tank, and the early results bode well for a dominant overall result.