MILWAUKEE — Shohei Ohtani greeted Jacob Misiorowski with a leadoff homer, but the Milwaukee Brewers' rookie phenom got the last word.
After allowing Ohtani's 431-foot blast, Misiorowski responded with another dominant outing. He struck out a career-high 12 batters — including two-way superstar Ohtani in the third inning — to lead the Brewers to a 3-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night.
''It's Shohei Ohtani,'' Misiorowski said. ''You kind of expect (that). It's cool to see him do it in action, but it fires me up even more coming back the next at bat and striking him out. I'm right there. I think it was a moment of like, ‘OK, now we go.'''
Misiorowski, whose fastball routinely tops 100 mph, threw an 88.2 mph curveball on an 0-2 count to Ohtani, who crushed it for his 31st homer. That's the most by a Dodgers player before the All-Star break.
It was the 21st career leadoff homer for the three-time MVP, who struck out swinging on a curveball in the third and walked to start the sixth. That was the only free pass allowed by Misiorowski, who gave up four hits.
''Really good stuff, aggressive in the zone," Ohtani said through an interpreter. "But what really stood out to me was his command and control.''
Misiorowski outdueled three-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw, who surpassed 3,000 career strikeouts in his previous outing. Asked Monday about his matchup with Misiorowski, Kershaw said he only knew that the 6-foot-7 right-hander throws hard.
''I know him now, huh?'' Kershaw said Tuesday. ''That was super impressive. That was unbelievable. It was really special. Everything. Obviously the velo, but he's got four pitches, commands the ball. I don't know how you hit that, honestly. That's just really tough.''
