Jacob Misiorowski brilliant again as Brewers blank Astros

Jacob Misiorowski capped a stellar month by twirling seven shutout innings as the visiting Milwaukee Brewers claimed the rubber match of a three-game series against the Houston Astros with a 2-0 victory on Sunday.

Misiorowski (6-2) allowed three hits and recorded eight strikeouts during his 88-pitch gem. In six starts during May, the hard-throwing right-hander posted a 5-0 record with an 0.23 ERA and 57 strikeouts against six walks.

Jake Bauers smacked an opposite-field, two-run homer in the top of the fourth to provide Misiorowski all of the support he needed. Bauers' ninth home run came against Astros right-hander Tatsuya Imai (2-3), who produced his second consecutive quality start.

Misiorowski retired the first six batters he faced, including strikeouts of Jeremy Pena, Yordan Alvarez and Taylor Trammell. The Astros fashioned their lone threat against Misiorowski in the third, loading the bases with two outs after Pena (single) and Alvarez (hit by pitch) reached safely following Jake Meyers' leadoff single. Misiorowski induced a Christian Walker groundout to first baseman Andrew Vaughn to snuff that threat.

Isaac Paredes recorded the third hit off Misiorowski when he stroked a one-out double in the fourth. Misiorowski responded by retiring the final 11 batters he faced for his fifth consecutive quality start. Misiorowski produced 15 swings and misses and averaged 100.5 miles per hour on 59 four-seam fastballs.

Imai, in his previous start, tossed six hitless innings against the Texas Rangers on Memorial Day to lead the Astros' combined no-hitter. He surrendered a one-out single to David Hamilton in the third and followed with a walk to No. 9 hitter Joey Ortiz, but he escaped that frame unscathed.

But with one out in the fourth, Vaughn and Bauers combined for seven foul balls against Imai. Vaughn capped his at-bat with a single before Bauers ripped a 1-2 fastball 347 feet to left field for a 2-0 lead.

Imai allowed two runs on three hits and two walks with five strikeouts over six innings. He threw a season-high 110 pitches.

Brewers relievers Abner Uribe and Trevor Megill completed the three-hit shutout by throwing 1-2-3 innnings. Megill notched his eighth save.