Brewers lose but still clinch NL Central

September 26, 2023
|In Brewers
|By Zach Heilprin

Milwaukee didn’t win Tuesday night but the Brewers still clinched the NL Central. That’s after Chicago blew a 6-0 lead in Atlanta, falling 7-6.

The Cubs loss set off a celebration at American Family Field as the Brewers won their fourth division title since 2011 and third since 2018.

It also guaranteed them homefield advantage for the best-of-three Wild Card series next week, with their likely opponent coming from a group made up of Chicago, Arizona, Miami and Cincinnati.

The Brewers could have avoided needing a Cubs loss but Adrian Houser couldn’t sustain his early success and the offense failed to get much going in a 4-1 loss to St. Louis.

Houser got off to a great start, pitching a perfect first three innings. But things began to unravel in the fourth inning with Richie Palacios driving in a pair of runs with a double. Then, in the fifth, Houser gave up two more runs, including a solo home run to Tommy Edman. Houser’s final line had him going five innings, allowing the four runs on four hits while striking out five and walking two. He dropped to 7-5 on the year.

Milwaukee’s offense didn’t help Houser. A Carlos Santana RBI-double in the third inning was all the Brewers could get off St. Louis starter Miles Mikolas. The righty ended up going seven innings, giving up just the one run on five hits. Mikolas improved to 8-14 on the year.

The Brewers and Cardinals will meet again Wednesday afternoon.