Jacob Misiorowski draws the assignment for Wednesday's series opener at 7:10 PM CT — and the numbers around him are genuinely absurd: 1.50 ERA, 0.81 WHIP, opponents hitting .151, and a fastball that touched 105.5 mph against the Cubs last Friday. On the other side, Andrew Abbott (4-4, 3.83 ERA) has been 1 of the Reds' better stories after a rough April — he's put together a 3.27 ERA in June with back-to-back 1-run starts, carrying Cincinnati's rotation while Hunter Greene rehabs his elbow and Brandon Williamson sits on the 60-day IL. There's a subplot worth knowing: the last time Misiorowski faced the Reds, on June 24 in Cincinnati, he got knocked around for 5 runs in just 1 1/3 innings — the shortest and worst outing of his young career. The Brewers still came back to win 6-5, but Misiorowski's line was ugly. He responded with a 6-inning, 1-run, 8-strikeout outing against the Cubs on June 26, so the meltdown looks like an outlier. Wednesday at American Family Field is round 2, and there's nothing about this Brewers team that suggests they'll take it lightly. The Reds (39-42) arrive in Milwaukee trying to avoid getting swept in back-to-back series against the same team. The June 22-24 set in Cincinnati ended in a 3-game sweep — Milwaukee won 2-1, 2-0, and 6-5 on consecutive nights, outpitching the Reds into the ground. Cincinnati has bounced back with 2 straight wins over Pittsburgh since then, but this is a different kind of test. The Brewers are 50-30, 11.5 games up on the Reds in the NL Central, and were the fastest team in franchise history to reach 50 wins. This series matters a lot more to Cincinnati than it does to Milwaukee. The injury reports tell the story of each team's ceiling. Cincinnati is without Greene (elbow, 60-day IL), Williamson (shoulder, 60-day IL), Emilio Pagan (hamstring), Tony Santillan (oblique), and Graham Ashcraft (elbow) — leaving Abbott as the clear best starter in a very thin room. Milwaukee has its own bullpen carnage: Quinn Priester is done for the year after thoracic outlet surgery, Brian Fitzpatrick is facing a potential Tommy John, and Logan Henderson is trying to get back before the All-Star break. But the Brewers still have Misiorowski, and that tends to be enough. Abbott vs. Misiorowski is a better-than-expected pitching matchup for a Wednesday night in early July, but the gap between these 2 rosters is real and the standings reflect it.