More misery ahead for Angels? Brewers, Jacob Misiorowski on tap

The Los Angeles Angels head into their series finale with the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday in Anaheim, Calif., with a five-game losing streak and the worst record in baseball.

How can things get much worse for Kurt Suzuki's squad? Try a date with the team with the best record and most dominating pitcher in the majors.

Right-hander Jacob Misiorowski (11-4, 1.58 ERA) will face the Angels for the first time in his career and comes in off a record start last Sunday in a 11-2 victory against Colorado.

The 6-foot-7 Misiorowski struck out the first seven Rockies he faced, a franchise record to start a game. He went on to strike out 12 of the first 13 batters he faced and retired 14 in a row before giving up a home run to Cole Carrigg on a 101.9 mph fastball with two outs in the fifth. That was the lone hit he allowed in five innings.

Misiorowski, who leads the majors in strikeouts (185) and ERA, threw 83 pitches, 59 for strikes. Even more impressive is that he threw 66 four-seam fastballs, all that hit at least 100 mph on the radar gun, with a high of 104.7 mph. He had 54 pitches that registered at least 102.0 mph -- numbers never seen in MLB until now.

"When he locates in the top half of the zone, it's really hard to hit," Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. "His extension, and his command of it, and the fact that he's got secondary stuff to go with it, makes it even tougher."

Los Angeles will counter with its own hard-throwing right-hander. Rookie Walbert Urena (6-7, 2.70), who will be facing the Brewers for the first time, is averaging 97.6 mph with his fastball and also throws a power sinker that can reach 100 mph. In 19 starts, he's allowed more than three earned runs just three times.

Urena threw 13 pitches of 100 mph or harder in his last start on Monday against Houston. He didn't get a decision in a 6-4 loss. He allowed one run on two hits over six innings. He walked two and struck out five, and departed the game with a 4-1 lead.

"Unbelievable again tonight, right? His velo was up. Stuff was good. Execution was great. Tremendous job," Suzuki said after the game.

Los Angeles has managed just nine hits and three runs in its first two games of the series with Milwaukee, including a 3-1 loss on Saturday and 6-2 on Friday. The Angels have scored 42 runs over the last 16 games, going 4-12 in that span.

"These guys, the Brewers can really pitch," Suzuki said Saturday. "They've got some good arms over there. They know how to mix and match and things like that. (Catcher William) Contreras works well with those pitchers. They were executing pitches against us. We had a tough time mustering anything up."

With the trade deadline on Monday, it figures the Angels might generate more action off the field on Sunday. Los Angeles scratched right-hander Jose Soriano, who is garnering strong interest, from his scheduled start on Saturday with just a few hours lefy before the game.

"With the trade deadline on Monday and the uncertainty of the next 48 hours, we decided to take the prudent approach and see where these next few days lead us," interim Angels general manager John Mozeliak said in a statement.

Shortstop Zach Neto, outfielder Jo Adell, designated hitter Jorge Soler and left-handed starter Reid Detmers are among the other Angels reportedly garnering interest on the trade market.

--Field Level Media