Thanks to what is being billed as an “epic” pitching matchup, one of the hottest tickets of the 2025 season will be Wednesday afternoon’s rubber game between the host Milwaukee Brewers and the last-place Pittsburgh Pirates.
The contest will feature a showdown between two of baseball’s hardest throwers in 23-year-old right-handers Paul Skenes (4-6, 1.85 ERA) of the Pirates and rookie Jacob Misiorowski (2-0, 1.64) of the Brewers.
The 6-foot-6 Skenes, the No. 1 overall pick of the 2023 MLB Draft after helping pitch LSU to the national championship and the reigning National League Rookie of the Year, will oppose the 6-7, 197-pound Misiorowski, making just his third big league start after beginning his career with an 11-inning hitless streak that, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, is the longest hitless streak to begin a career in the modern era (since 1900).
Expect the radar gun to explode with 100 mph readings. Skenes is averaging 98.1 mph with his four-seam fastball, while Misiorowski comes in at an average 99.7 mph. Per mlb.com, Misiorowski had 29 pitches register 100 mph or more in his last start at Minnesota on Friday night.
“When we announced the matchup, we sold about 10,000 tickets in 27 hours,” Rick Schlesinger, president of business operations for the Brewers, told FanDuel Network on Tuesday night. “So (Wednesday’s) game is essentially sold out. It’s standing room only, but it’s a matchup for the ages. Two really impressive young pitchers at the top of their game. It should be epic.”
Skenes is 1-0 with a 0.69 ERA in two career starts against the Brewers with 19 strikeouts in 13 innings. He’s pitched one other time at American Family Field. That was last July 11 when he departed after throwing 99 pitches over seven no-hit innings and striking out 11.
Misiorowski, who threw five no-hit innings against St. Louis in his Major League debut on June 12, followed that up eight days later with six perfect innings against the host Minnesota Twins before walking Byron Buxton to start the bottom of the seventh. He then yielded a towering home run down the right field line to Matt Wallner that barely cleared the 23-foot wall.
The duo met for the first time in the outfield before Monday night’s 5-4 Pirates victory and posed for pictures.
“I think it’s going to be really entertaining to watch,” Misiorowski told mlb.com. “Two guys that are at the top of their game right now. So, I think it’s cool. It’s going to be fun.”
Skenes enters the contest leading all MLB qualifiers with a 1.85 ERA and leads the National League with a 0.88 WHIP.
“Everything just flows off his back. He never lets anything affect him too much,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “To be 23 years old and to have the power stuff we all see, but it’s that pitch-ability that has really made him special, in my opinion.”
Milwaukee is coming off a 9-3 victory on Tuesday night, it’s fifth win in six games. Joey Ortiz hit two home runs, the first multi-homer game of his career, and drove in four runs. Caleb Durbin also homered and drove in three.
Ortiz, who was batting just .183 on June 9, is up to .217 while hitting .424 during his current eight-game hitting streak.
“Confidence is No. 1,” Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy said of the turnaround. “He’s starting to get confident and starting to believe when he goes up there that, ‘I can do some things.’ He’s been on a torrid pace here.”
–Field Level Media
