TLDR: The best record in baseball got even better on Sunday. Jacob Misiorowski was untouchable early and the Brewers buried the Rockies 11-2 to close out the series in Milwaukee.
+Best record in baseball, running away with NL Central
+Misiorowski's 1.58 ERA is tops among qualified starters
−Multiple rotation/bullpen arms out (Harrison, Kuhnel, Hall)
−Frelick needed a cortisone shot, banged up in RF
−Dropped the series opener 2-5 to this same club
Misiorowski (10-4, 1.58 ERA) took the ball for Milwaukee looking to bounce back from a shortened outing his last time out, and he got the matchup he wanted: Kyle Freeland (2-9, 7.34 ERA), who's been dealing with the worst season of his career. On paper this was as lopsided a pitching matchup as the Brewers will see all year, and it played out that way.
Kyle Freeland
(3-10)·6.63 ERA
Jul 20 vs Nationals
L
6.0IP
4ER
4K
2BB
91P
07/26 Lineup
Jacob Misiorowski
(11-5)·1.63 ERA
Jul 20 vs Mets
ND
4.0IP
0ER
6K
1BB
65P
07/26 Lineup
Freeland came in having given up multiple runs in a brutal stretch of starts, and the injury sheets tell the bigger story here too. Milwaukee's rotation and bullpen have been battered — Kyle Harrison, Joel Kuhnel and DL Hall are all working back from the IL — but even a MASH unit around him hasn't slowed Misiorowski down. Colorado, meanwhile, is trying to piece together a bullpen with three relievers already lost for extended stretches.
None of that context stopped the Rockies from taking Friday's opener 5-2, a reminder that this last-place club isn't just rolling over. But Sunday was a different animal from the jump, with Milwaukee jumping out early and never letting up.
The Brewers own the best record in baseball and have a comfortable grip on the NL Central, and days like this are exactly how they got there — length in the rotation, thump throughout the lineup, and a closing kick late in games most teams would've already put away. Colorado, sitting at 42-64, is playing out the string with an offense that hasn't given Freeland much cover and a pitching staff that's been stretched thin by injuries all year.
Milwaukee broke it open with a five-run sixth inning and tacked on more in the seventh and eighth, turning a competitive early game into a laugher. It's the kind of complete performance — dominant starter, opportunistic offense, no wasted innings — that separates a division leader from a rebuilding club playing out July.
Rockies 2, Brewers 11: Final Score & Odds Recap — Misiorowski Mows Down Rockies Again in Brewers Rout
