The Milwaukee Brewers secured their fourth consecutive National League Central championship on Tuesday night, beating the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-1 behind five shutout innings from right-hander Jacob Misiorowski.
The clinching moment came about 50 minutes after Milwaukee’s game ended, when the second-place Chicago Cubs lost to Atlanta. Brewers players gathered around a clubhouse television to watch the finish, raising their hands and cheering as the final out was recorded.
Misiorowski, who improved to 15-5, struck out seven and lowered his major league-best ERA to 1.89 while pushing his season strikeout total to 243. Nine of his first 10 pitches Tuesday topped 100 mph, and he worked around five hits — all singles — over 82 pitches, 43 of which registered triple digits. The performance strengthens his case for the NL Cy Young Award.
Joey Ortiz and Luis Lara each drove in two runs for Milwaukee. The Brewers took an early lead against Pittsburgh opener Lake Bachar (1-4) when Jake Bauers led off with a single, advanced on a groundout and a wild pitch, then scored on Lara’s sacrifice fly — a sequence typical of the small-ball execution that has helped the club post the majors’ best record for much of the season.
Milwaukee has now reached the postseason for the eighth time in nine years and remains one of the sport’s most consistent contenders, though the franchise is still chasing its first World Series appearance since 1982. Last October, the Brewers were swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL Championship Series.
For Pittsburgh, Brandon Lowe hit his 30th home run of the season, the Pirates’ 171st as a team — tying a franchise record set in 1999. Rafael Flores Jr. collected four hits. The loss dropped Pittsburgh back below .500, to 75-76, on a day the club honored Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente by having players wear his No. 21.
The series resumes Wednesday, with Logan Henderson (10-3, 2.34 ERA) taking the mound for Milwaukee against Pittsburgh’s Jared Jones (4-6, 4.10 ERA).
