Give the Padres’ offense an A-minus grade for its pesky performance Saturday night against Jacob Misiorowski in the National League Division Series opener.
Fouling off 31 pitches and scoring twice, Padres hitters dealt the Milwaukee Brewers’ ace and major league ERA champion one of his shorter outings this year.
The 2-2 score when Misiorowski exited ahead of the fifth inning stood as victory for Padres hitters, even though the Brewers won Game 1, 3-2.
It was just the fourth pre-fifth exit for Misiorowski, who logged six-plus innings in 18 of 30 starts and went at least seven frames in seven outings.
More than a reliable innings-eater, Misiorowski posted an MLB-best 1.80 ERA this year.
No one else came close to his ERA — with NL runner-up Chris Sale of the Braves at 2.16 and New York Yankees ace Cam Schlittler, the American League champion, at 1.95.
The Padres have improved greatly on offense since Misiorowski threw seven scoreless innings against them in May.
He threw 92 pitches in that game.
Saturday, the Padres taxed him for 88 pitches in the four innings, leading manager Pat Murphy to enlist a reliever entering the fifth.
Padres hitters seldom chased pitches — other than the several times Misiorowski threw a curveball or a slider with two strikes to get a whiff.
They fouled off a high number of fastballs, many of them clocked 97 to 105 mph.
Dustin Harris, the No. 2 hitter, fouled off three two-strike pitches in his first at-bat before striking out on a curveball out of the zone.
Next time, the lefty hitter fouled off two more pitches in earning a seven-pitch walk.
“The Miz” led MLB with 252 strikeouts this year.
Scoring twice in the second inning, the Padres were rewarded for putting the ball in play.
They got consecutive one-out singles from Xander Bogaerts, rookie Ethan Salas and Luis Campusano, the latter a run-scoring groundball to the opposite field.
When Brewers catcher Will Contreras couldn’t hold the ball on a play at the plate, after Jake Cronenworth grounded to first baseman Jake Bauers, the lead went to 2-0.
The Padres mustered two crisp hits against Misiorowski: Salas’ sharp single to center field off a low cut fastball; and Manny Machado’s scorched double to left field, off a slider that was the eighth pitch of Machado’s first-inning at-bat.
The early strain drove The Miz’s pitch count to 58 pitches through second innings. Eighteen of those pitches were fouled off.
Misiorowski finished with 88 pitches.
As for Padres starter Robbie Ray, the final grade was well below the San Diego offense’s against Ray’s counterpart.
Ray began with a seven-pitch scoreless first inning.
But in the third inning, he couldn’t overcome a broken-bat, leadoff single by Garrett Mitchell.
One out later, Ray misplaced a slider to Milwaukee’s most talented hitter, Jackson Chourio.
The right-hander rifled it 420 feet, tying the game.
For Chourio, 22, it was his fifth career postseason home run.
Manager Craig Stammen replaced Ray (2 ⅔ innings, two runs) with reliever Bradgley Rodriguez. The rookie got four outs without allowing a run.
Will Ray make a second start in this series?
It looks iffy.
Michael King, Nick Pivetta and Walker Buehler are lined up to start.
If a Game 5 is played next Friday, King would be set up to start on normal rest.
Misiorowski’s normal rest is five days, rather than four.
This year, he posted a 1.84 ERA in those starts.
So, there’s a good chance that if there’s a Game 5, the Padres would again face Misiorowski.
Their performance against him Saturday night at the same ballpark where he breezed against him May, figures to improve their outlook.