Misiorowski's 0.88 WHIP and 39.3% K% Meet Liberatore's TTO2 Cliff at AmFam

Sunday's series finale at Great American Ball Park was rained out. The game has been rescheduled as the front half of a split doubleheader on Sunday, August 17 at 1:40 PM ET in Cincinnati.

BOTTOM LINE

Edge: Misiorowski has the headline arm in this matchup -- 1.89 ERA, 0.88 WHIP, 31.9% K%, 88 K in 57.0 IP, only 4 HR allowed all season. He is a 2.82 ERA pitcher at AmFam (44.2 IP at home this year) and the Cardinals lineup brings four hitters with 2025 K% at or above 27.5% (Gorman 33.8%, Walker 31.8%, Saggese 28.1%, Pages 27.5%) directly into that fastball. The strikeout column is where his edge shows up first.

Threat: Christian Yelich vs Liberatore. Yelich is 4-for-7 (.571 / .571 / .571) in the career BvP sample and Liberatore's career split vs LHB is .274 / .348 / .410 across 133 PA. With Liberatore working on the road (4.03 away ERA, 11 HR allowed in 76.0 IP) and the Brewers carrying six LHB plus two switch-hitters in the active-roster pool, the lefty-on-lefty book the Brewers can stack is the most concentrated damage threat in the building.

Watch: Liberatore's second pass through the order. His 2025 TTO2 line is .310 / .511 / .871 with 9 HR in 252 PA -- a clear cliff from the .237 / .376 / .657 TTO1 number. That window typically lands in innings 4-6, exactly where Yelich, Chourio (.338 vs LHP in 2025), and Vaughn (.301) get their second look.

-- Liberatore's TTO2 cliff (252 PA, .871 OPS in 2025). 9 HR in the second pass through the order vs 8 HR in the first pass on more PA. Innings 4-6 are the danger window once the Brewers' top of the order sees him a second time.

-- Misiorowski's strikeout column. 31.9% K% on 273 BFP, 0.88 WHIP, only 4 HR allowed in 57.0 IP. Gorman (33.8% K%), Walker (31.8%), Saggese (28.1%), and Pages (27.5%) carry the four heaviest 2025 K rates in the lineup -- the K count compounds early.

-- Misiorowski TTO3 sample (24 PA, .966 OPS). 1 HR, .591 SLG. Small sample, but the only Misiorowski split that grades hitter-favorable -- if the Cardinals push him past 18 batters, this is where damage tends to show up.

-- JoJo Romero high-leverage role. 88.5% strand rate on 26 inherited runners -- the only Cardinals reliever clearly above the ~68-72% league strand band. If Liberatore exits with traffic in the 5th or 6th, Romero is the lefty option to call against Yelich, Bauers, or Mitchell.

-- Series opener at AmFam. Brewers 30-20, Cardinals 1.5 GB. STL has dropped 5 of the last 6 by record. The opener sets whether this is a road series the Cardinals can leave closer to .500 against the division leader.