Pitchers’ duel ends in a 1-0 victory for the Milwaukee Brewers

Tonight was not a must win situation by any means. Yet it felt like the Brew Crew really needed to get a win tonight. They would have to do it without Christian Yelich in the lineup as Craig Counsel gave his slugger a mental health day.

The major story in this game was Adrian Houser. The big right-hander from Oklahoma was dominant this evening. Facing off against former Cy Young Award winner Dallas Keuchel, the two pitchers put on a pitching clinic. By the end of the night, Houser was just a bit better than Kuechel.

When Houser left this evening’s game, he completed seven efficient innings of shut out baseball. He struck out five White Sox’ hitters while giving up five hits. Houser was a ground ball machine that the powerful White Sox lineup just could not barrel up.

The only scoring in this game came in the top of the third inning. Making his major league debut, Mark Mathias led off the inning with his first major league hit. It was a single to centerfield that was followed by a single to right by Orlando Arcia.

Mathias would come around to score on an RBI single by Eric Sogard. That would be the only run needed and the only run scored in this game.

That Brewers’ bats failed to show again tonight. Fortunately the pitching was tremendous. As I mentioned, Houser was the story tonight, but just about as big was the Josh Hader sighting.

Yes we got to partake in some Hader-ade. After a scoreless eighth posted by David Phelps, Hader came out to close out the ninth. He worked all three of his pitches against Jose Abreu, Yasmani Grandal, and Eloy Jimenez. The result was a 1-2-3 inning and a necessary win for the Milwaukee Brewers.