The Atlanta Braves picked a bad time to fall into a funk.
After looking like the biggest threat to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League for much of the season, Atlanta has lost six of seven. And now the Milwaukee Brewers are coming to town, and bringing baseball’s hottest pitcher with them.
The Braves will look to snap their second three-game losing streak in the past 10 days when they host the Brewers for the opener of a three-game set on Friday in a matchup of division leaders.
The NL Central-leading Brewers, despite having their three-game winning streak end with a 4-2 loss to the Cleveland Guardians on Thursday, have won eight of their past 12.
The Braves lost twice to the San Francisco Giants this week before the scheduled Thursday game was postponed because of bad weather.
“Nothing’s coming easy for us right now — on the mound, at the plate,” Atlanta manager Walt Weiss said. “Seemed like everyone was coming through early on, and it’s kind of infectious. This is almost inevitable, and over the course of the season you run into times like this.”
The Friday pitching matchup features Milwaukee flamethrower Jacob Misiorowski (8-2, 1.34 ERA) and Atlanta’s Martin Perez (5-3, 2.90).
Misiorowski, 24, is coming off the best outing of his career — a one-hit shutout of the Philadelphia Phillies on June 12 in which he struck out 15 and needed only 95 pitches while facing the minimum.
“It’s more that it finally clicked,” Misiorowski said. “Everything started settling in and feeling good.”
Misiorowski, who is 7-0 with a 0.17 ERA in his past eight starts, has recorded seven consecutive quality starts and has struck out a major-league-leading 131 batters in 87 innings on the season.
“He’s winning the 0-0 and the 1-1 (counts) a lot,” pitching coach Chris Hook said. “When he doesn’t, it stands out to be like, ‘Oh, God, he didn’t win the 0-0. He didn’t win the 1-1.’ Like that’s weird, for him to go to a two-ball count.”
Misiorowski has never faced the Braves.
Perez was seen as a luxury when he was signed as a free agent earlier this year but has proven to be invaluable in light of Atlanta’s pitching problems. His veteran presence will be especially important since the club placed Spencer Strider, considered the Braves’ second-best arm behind Chris Sale, on the 60-day injured list this week due to right elbow inflammation.
Perez has won three consecutive starts. He beat the New York Mets 3-1 on Saturday, allowing one run on four hits and one walk in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out four.
“Martin is like Picasso,” Atlanta utility man Mauricio Dubon said. “He’s a veteran. He’s out there just grinding and everything. You know, he makes it look easy.”
Perez has not had success against the Brewers, however. In five career appearances (four starts) vs. Milwaukee, he is 0-3 with an 8.54 ERA, having allowed eight home runs in 26 1/3 innings.
Also on Thursday, Milwaukee announced that Quinn Priester would miss the rest of the season. The 25-year-old right-hander was trying to avoid surgery through rehab but will now undergo thoracic outlet decompression surgery.
After going 13-3 with a 3.32 ERA for the Brewers in 2025, Priester was 0-5 with a 15.75 ERA in eight minor league starts this season, allowing 28 runs in 16 innings.
The Brewers and Braves are meeting for the first time this year. Milwaukee took the season series 4-2 in 2025 and has won six straight in Atlanta.
–Field Level Media
