It wasn't the best start from Adrian Houser and it wasn't the best played game, but the Milwaukee Brewers once again found a way to win on Friday night against their rival, the Chicago Cubs. This was the Crew's 10th straight victory against the Cubbies, just the second time in franchise history the Brewers have won 10 straight games against a single opponent in a single season (Pirates, 2008).
The Cubs jumped out to an early lead, scoring four runs in the top of the 4th inning off Houser, stringing together some hits on soft contact.
But the Brewers answered right back in the bottom half of the fourth, bringing across three runs after Christian Yelich singled to score Kolten Wong, then two batters later Luis Urias singled to score Yelich and Eduardo Escobar.
Chicago held a 4-3 lead going into the 5th, and extended it on a Frank Schwindel solo home run, the first home run Adrian Houser has allowed since June 26th.
The Brewers, once again, answered in the bottom half of the inning. Luis Urias drew a bases loaded walk to bring it back to a one run deficit and a 5-4 ballgame. But they weren't able to bring across any more.
Until the eighth inning that is. With two outs in the inning, and Luis Urias on first base, the Brewers put together a rally, starting with a Lorenzo Cain RBI single to bring Urias home and tie the game at 5.
The big moment of the game was with Kolten Wong at the plate with the bases loaded and the game still tied. Wong took a 3-2 pitch from Cubs reliever Rowan Wick and laced it into centerfield, bringing home two runs and giving the Brewers a 7-5 lead. They'd add one more on a wild pitch and gave the game to Josh Hader in the ninth with an 8-5 lead.
Hader, as usual, locked down the ninth in short order. The Brewers move to 90-57 on the season and their magic number to clinch the NL Central drops to 4. These two rivals will be back at it again Saturday night starting at 6:15 PM at American Family Field.