Brewers skipping Jacob Misiorowski start takes away Paul Skenes matchup

Robert Gasser will start for the Brewers against Skenes. 

That news sends Misiorowski into the All-Star break with a 1.62 ERA, tops in Major League Baseball, and a league-leading 167 strikeouts. He has 19 more strikeouts than any other pitcher in the majors, while the next closest qualified pitcher in ERA is New York Yankees starter Cam Schlitter at 2.05. 

Even though Skenes has not been anywhere near as dominant as he has been over his first two full seasons, owning a 3.58 ERA going into Sunday, this was still a potential monster pitching matchup. 

Now fans will have to wait for it.

The Pirates and Brewers play each other seven more times after Sunday, so there is still a chance their paths could cross in one of them.

The bigger concern for the Brewers is whether or not the fatigue for Misiorowski means anything. Is it just the attrition that comes from being a Major League starting pitcher? Or is it something more of a red flag? Not only has he been the best pitcher in baseball this season, but he has lit up the radar gun in a way no other pitcher has in the modern era, routinely topping 103 and 104 mph. The human arm is not really meant for that sort of workload, and pitchers who reach those velocities tend to eventually have issues. The Brewers are still a long way from having to really worry about that, but given the current state of the game and the current injury rate for pitchers, it is always going to be something in the thought process of baseball fans.