MLB RecapThursday, July 2, 2026

Thursday’s nine-game slate leans heavily on pitching, with two featured matchups built around very different kinds of intrigue: one true heavyweight duel in Milwaukee and one clear paper mismatch in Atlanta.

The headliner is Cincinnati Reds at Milwaukee Brewers, where Chase Burns and Jacob Misiorowski bring frontline numbers into an NL Central meeting that should feel tight from the first inning. Burns has been excellent at 2.36 with a 1.08 WHIP and 11.00 K/9, the profile of a power arm who can miss bats without constantly pitching in traffic. On the other side, Misiorowski has been even more overpowering: a 1.45 ERA, 0.77 WHIP, and 13.27 K/9 tell the story of a starter who has combined swing-and-miss stuff with rare run prevention. Recent-start detail is not available here, so the read comes from the season shape itself: Burns gives Cincinnati a real chance to control the game, but Misiorowski’s combination of strikeouts and baserunner suppression makes Milwaukee’s margin for error feel a little larger. In a duel this good, one mistake or one quiet stretch of command could decide it.

St. Louis Cardinals at Atlanta Braves is featured for the opposite reason. Dustin May has been solidly serviceable for St. Louis, carrying a 4.30 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, and respectable 8.28 K/9 against just 2.37 BB/9, which suggests a starter capable of keeping a game orderly if not dominant. Atlanta counters with Hurston Waldrep, whose line is one of the strangest on the board: a 0.00 ERA and 13.50 K/9, but also a 3.00 WHIP and 18.00 BB/9 in a tiny sample. With no recent-start trend available, the key question is sustainability versus volatility. The raw stuff is obvious, but the traffic created by that walk rate makes this a matchup where the ERA alone cannot be taken at face value. That is why it reads as a mismatch duel: Atlanta has the more explosive upside on the mound, while May’s steadier baseline gives St. Louis its best path to hanging around.

Among the notable games, Los Angeles Angels at Seattle Mariners stands out because Walbert Ureña’s 3.14 ERA meets Bryce Miller’s 1.97 in a division rivalry with a strong chance to be driven by starting pitching. Chicago White Sox at Cleveland Guardians earns the tag because Davis Martin’s 3.00 ERA against Slade Cecconi’s 4.18 sets up a division rivalry with a clearer edge on paper than the records alone might suggest. San Diego Padres at Los Angeles Dodgers is notable because Randy Vásquez and Roki Sasaki have both been more vulnerable than overpowering, giving this division rivalry a different tone from the slate’s cleaner pitching duels.

The pitching spotlight goes to Jacob Misiorowski, whose 1.45 ERA is the best among the featured and notable starters and is backed by the kind of WHIP and strikeout rate that can take over a game.

For a compact Thursday card, this one still offers plenty of ways for pitching to shape the night.