Milwaukee Brewers at Los Angeles Dodgers

Jacob Misiorowski was entertaining a quartet of Japanese reporters on Friday when the topic inevitably turned to the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani. How would Misiorowski approach the global superstar when they squared off again on Saturday afternoon? Misiorowski didn’t bother with playing coy. “He knows what I’m going to do. I’m going to throw a heater,” said Misiorowski, who’s armed with arguably the best heater in baseball right now. “He’s going to hit it or he’s not going to hit it. We’re going to see." Misiorowski vs. Ohtani was a must-see event every time they met in the Brewers' 4-1 win at Dodger Stadium, when Misiorowski’s fastball sizzled for six innings, but it was the slider that neutralized Ohtani in the biggest moment of a sun-splashed matchup of teams with the National League’s top two records. Brewers catcher William Contreras emerged from an 0-for-20 slump with two hits, including a two-run home run, Joey Ortiz also hit a two-run shot and left-hander Aaron Ashby delivered a two-inning save to back Misiorowski, who didn’t post the gaudy strikeout numbers we’ve come to expect, but conjured them when he needed them most in an assertive six-inning outing in which he allowed one run on five hits with one walk and six strikeouts. “It proved to everyone out there this guy can pitch,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “He executed pitches. If you’re wondering if he’s mature yet, that’ll tell you a lot right there.” As promised, Misiorowski came out firing fastballs at Ohtani leading off the game. He threw six four-seamers in a row during their first matchup, the first at 103.7 mph and the last at 103.8 mph for a swinging strike three, with a 104.2 mph fastball along the way. That single at-bat featured Misiorowski’s five fastest pitches of the day. Misiorowski retired the first seven Dodgers hitters on the day before Alex Call reached on an infield single that left his bat at 37.2 mph, according to Statcast, and Ohtani got revenge by hitting a 100.3 fastball into the ground for a run-scoring triple that took a big hop over the head of Brewers first baseman Gary Sánchez and traveled into the right-field corner to cut Milwaukee’s lead to 2-1.