Adrian Houser allowed two hits over 5 1/3 shutout innings to help the Milwaukee Brewers to a 4-0 win against the visiting Houston Astros in the rubber match of their three-game series on Wednesday afternoon.
Houser (1-0) struck out three and walked one before Joel Payamps relieved him in the sixth and pitched out of a jam. Bryse Wilson followed with a 1-2-3 seventh inning, Jake Cousins a scoreless eighth and Hoby Milner closed the ninth for the Brewers.
Willy Adames, Owen Miller and Brian Anderson homered for Milwaukee, which ended Houston’s eight-game winning streak on Tuesday.
Astros starter Brandon Bielak (1-2) allowed four runs and five hits in a season-high 6 2/3 innings. He struck out three and walked one.
Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich led off with an opposite-field double in the first inning. Adames then stepped up and clubbed his ninth home run of the season over the center field fence for a 2-0 lead.
Houser, who tossed six shutout innings last Friday, gave up a two-out single to Kyle Tucker in the first inning and then retired the next 14 batters in a row. Mauricio Dubon reached on an error with one out in the sixth. Alex Bregman then doubled to left to put runners on second and third and end the day for Houser.
Payamps came in and struck out Yordan Alvarez before getting Tucker to line out to end the inning.
Bielak, who had allowed one run and five hits over five innings in his last outing, retired nine in a row following the home run by Adames. He gave up Rowdy Tellez’s leadoff single in the fourth, but immediately got Miller to ground into a double play.
Miller homered to lead off the seventh and stretch the lead to 3-0. Anderson homered two outs later to make it 4-0.
The teams combined for just nine hits.
–Field Level Media