Last Night in Baseball: Jacob Misiorowski Is Breaking Historic Ground In Velocity

There is always baseball happening — almost too much baseball for one person to follow themselves. Don’t worry, we’re here to help you by figuring out what you missed but shouldn’t have. Here are all the best moments from last night in Major League Baseball: Brewers’ starter Jacob Misiorowski was terrifying on Monday. He struck out seven batters over the first three innings against the Cardinals and finished with 12 punch outs on the day, making him the first pitcher to reach 100 on the season. He limited St. Louis to one run on two hits and a walk, and got through seven innings on just 96 pitches. What was most startling, though, is just how hard he was throwing — even for Miz. He registered 103 mph on eight pitches in the first inning, and threw 57 pitches of at least 100 mph: per MLB, that’s 10 more times than anyone has managed since this data began to be tracked in 2008. In addition, the 103.4 mph four-seamer he got Cardinals’ DH Iván Herrera to whiff on in the first is the fastest strikeout pitch recorded during this same stretch, topping Miz’s own record from April, when he struck out the Pirates’ Oneil Cruz on a 102.7 mph pitch. Just a phenomenal start from Misiorowski, who has seen his command and control improve in his sophomore campaign to the point that he’s now leading the majors in hit rate, strikeouts, strikeouts per nine and has a 1.83 ERA — the run he allowed on Monday was the first he’s given up all month. The Brewers’ lineup made sure not to waste this effort from their 24-year-old hurler, either, as Milwaukee plated five runs — three of those in the first, thanks in part to a two-run shot from veteran DH Christian Yelich — and the Brewers defeated the Cardinals, 5-1, to increase their NL Central lead to 2.5 games. Tatsuya Imai has had a tough time adjusting to MLB after joining up from NPB this offseason, but on Monday against the Rangers the 28-year-old righty had things together enough to throw six no-hit innings. His bullpen kept things going, holding the Rangers hitless the rest of the way, and Houston managed a combined no-hitter on the road. [Houston Astros No-Hit Texas Rangers: Historic Feat By The Numbers] Of course, it’s never just the pitchers that make no-hitters happen. The defense has to be there, too, and that was the case for the Astros against Texas. In the third, with Houston up 1-0, shortstop Jeremy Peña made a great snag on a ball deep to short off the bat of first baseman Joc Pederson, and then Christian Walker was able to rope in the off-balance throw at first to complete the out. Walker made his presence felt in other ways, too: in the seventh, he hit a three-run blast — his 15th homer of the year — to put the Astros up 7-0. Reliever Alimber Santa came on in the eighth and ninth innings to finish off the combined no-hitter, and he succeeded. Even better is that this was Santa’s first-ever big-league game. That’s correct, the 23-year-old right-hander managed to partake in a no-hitter in his MLB debut. According to MLB’s Sarah Langs, he’s just the second pitcher in league history who can make this claim, too: the other occurred all the way back in 1892, when Bumpus Jones threw a no-hitter in his debut for the Reds. That predates the formation of MLB itself! This W is also significant for the Astros since they are now just a game back of the Rangers in the AL West, despite a horrible start to the year thanks to myriad injuries to key players. Houston is still under .500, yes, but the Athletics are also in first place at 27-27, so. The division is open, is the thing. MLB’s home run leader remains Kyle Schwarber, as the Phillies’ left fielder and DH was the first to 20 dingers and, after last night, is also the first to 21. In the top of the first against Padres’ righty Griffin Canning, Schwarber took a 90.6 mph changeup low in the zone 374 feet to put Philadelphia up 1-0. That would turn out to be the only run the Phillies needed, as lefty Jesús Luzardo and a trio of relievers threw a combined five-hit shutout against San Diego, but Philly added another couple of insurance runs along the way anyway to win 3-0. Now, it’s much too early to talk about pace with real seriousness, but Schwarber is currently on track to hit 65 long balls in 2026. Which is notable mostly because 2025 was the first time that he went yard at least 50 times in a season, when he wrapped with 56. Assuming 65 just because he has 21 before May concludes is pushing it, but back-to-back 50+ campaigns? Now that’s something to consider, and he would be just the 12th player to manage more than one 50-homer season if he pulls it off, to boot. On Sunday, Orioles’ outfielder Colton Cowser pinch-hit late against the Tigers, and then ended up staying in the game and hitting a three-run, walk-off homer in the ninth to give Baltimore the W in the first game of a doubleheader. On Monday, Orioles’ outfielder Colton Cowser pinch-hit late against the Rays, and then ended up staying in the game and hitting a two-run, walk-off homer in the 13th to give Baltimore the W. Simply incredible. Even better, that dinger was not the only way that Cowser contributed. He scored in the 12th to keep the game going after the Rays scored a run in the top of the inning, on a play at the plate that required a challenge to review what exactly happened. He somehow got his arm in under catcher Nick Fortes while sliding, and his other arm was far enough away that the left got the plate before Fortes could tag the right. That extended the game, and gave Cowser a chance to end it with one swing. And he did just that. Well, let’s rewind. First, Tampa Bay scored a pair of runs in the top of the 13th, and then Baltimore answered with an RBI double from center fielder Leody Taveras and a sac fly from third baseman Jackson Holliday to tie things up, 7-7. Then Cowser did his thing to give the O’s the dub — a great all-around effort for anyone who wasn’t pitching for Baltimore last night. Look at this ball come out of the hand of rookie right fielder Rikuu Nishida, who was making his big-league debut on Monday. It looks like he shot that thing right out of a cannon, and directly at White Sox’ catcher Drew Romo. Who, after a brief bit of comedy, managed to apply the tag and end the threat. Romo was not expecting the ball to make it all the way to him, as you can glean from his positioning there, well in front of the plate. Nishida showed off his arm, though, and it all ended up working out in the end because Twins’ shortstop Orlando Arcia missed home plate assuming Romo was going to be more in the way of it than he was. Speaking of White Sox rookies, Munetaka Murakami continues to impress. Yankees’ right fielder Aaron Judge tied him for the American League home run lead on Sunday with his 17th of the season, and Murakami answered right back with No. 18 on Monday. Murakami, who was supposed to struggle with velocity in his transition from NPB to MLB, took this 97.5 mph four-seamer that came inside on him and sent it flying back at nearly 106 mph. He’s been something to behold these first two months of the season, that power is legit. Things do not go well for the Athletics on Monday overall — more on that shortly — but it was an important night for first baseman Nick Kurtz. When the 23-year-old slugger drew a walk in the third inning against off Mariners’ starter Luis Castillo, it stretched his on-base streak to 48 games: that ties him with Mark McGwire for the longest in Athletics’ history. It’s also tied for the 58th-longest streak in MLB history, which is more impressive than it might sound like off the bat, as another five games will put him in the top-25 ever, tied with the likes of Alex Rodriguez and Shohei Ohtani, who got that far on the list earlier this season. Kurtz isn’t hitting for quite as much power in 2026 as he did in his Rookie of the Year-winning 2025, but part of that is because pitchers are rightly terrified of his bat. He slugged .619 with 36 homers in 117 games last summer; this time around, he’s leading the majors in walks with 52, just 11 shy of his entire 2025 total which had helped him to a .383 on-base percentage. Kurtz is slugging .481, but he has a .444 on-base percentage to make up for that — it’s been a fascinating sophomore season, and it also has him approaching some rare territory in MLB history. Kurtz might have extended his on-base streak, but the Mariners’ offense got to work in the third inning and never looked back. Things started out innocently enough, with first baseman Josh Naylor driving in a run on a force out, but then left fielder Randy Arozarena hit an RBI double to score Naylor, and right fielder Luke Raley hit a two-run shot to make it 4-0, Mariners. Designated hitter Dominican Canzone would hit his own two-run shot later in the inning to make it a six-run frame for the M’s, too. Those represented just half the homers that Seattle launched on Monday: shortstop J.P. Crawford hit a solo shot in the seventh, and Arozarena went yard in the ninth to make it 9-1, Mariners. The A’s got a run back in the ninth, but that was nowhere near enough, and while they still sit in first in the AL West, they are also just .500. The Rockies were more than holding their own against the Dodgers, as Colorado was up 3-1 after the top of the seventh, within which they added another run to their lead courtesy a home run from shortstop Ezequiel Tovar. That dinger must have woken up the Dodgers, however, as Los Angeles responded with a four-run bottom of the seventh. It opened with catcher Will Smith and second baseman Hyeseong Kim walking against reliever Juan Mejia, who was in his second inning of work. Mejia was then lifted for Brennan Bernardino in the middle of a strange back-and-forth where Dalton Rushing was sent in to pinch-hit for Kiké Hernandez, but then Miguel Rojas was put in for Rushing once the lefty Bernardino was summoned from the pen. Bernardino then hit Rojas with a pitch to load the bases with no outs. DH Shohei Ohtani would ground into a force out but push a run across, cutting the Rockies’ lead in half, and then shortstop Mookie Betts would tie the game up with a sac fly. First baseman Freddie Freeman managed to drive in a run without giving up an out to do it, and put the Dodgers ahead for good with a double that scored Ohtani. Jaden Hill would come on in relief of Bernardino — who, to be fair, was dealt a pretty terrible hand there, not that he helped himself much — and center fielder Andy Pages kept it going one batter longer with an RBI single to center to score Freeman. A trio of Dodgers’ relievers — Will Klein, Alex Vesia and Blake Treinen — kept the Rockies in check the rest of the way, and Los Angeles secured the come-from-behind victory. With San Diego losing to Philadelphia, that puts the Dodgers 2.5 up in the NL West as the last days of May approach.