Adrian Houser is lights-out, Hunter Renfroe homers twice as Brewers demolish the Cubs
Curt Hogg
If the question is who the best Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher since the midpoint of last season, Adrian Houser has to be firmly in the conversation.
Sure, the right-hander may not have the eye-popping arsenal or high-end velocity of some of his peers, but his numbers speak for themselves.
So did his performance Friday night.
Houser shut out the Chicago Cubs over six innings while striking out six and the offense blasted a season-best six home runs to lead the Brewers to an 11-1 victory at American Family Field that extended their winning streak to four.
Box score:Brewers 11, Cubs 1
Since July 1, 2021, few in baseball have been better than Houser. The 29-year-old sports a 2.25 earned run average during that time, a mark topped by only three pitchers in baseball with at least 80 innings thrown.
On most pitching staffs in the league, Houser would be far-and-away the top performer during that four-month stretch, but this is the pitching-rich Brewers, after all. Corbin Burnes, with a 2.21 ERA, is one of the few ahead of Houser and Eric Lauer is one spot behind.
No matter how you spin it, Houser has been on top of his game and Friday was no different.
Only once did the Cubs put a runner in scoring position against Houser. It came with one out in the fourth and it was immediately erased with an inning-ending double play.
Houser’s six strikeouts set a season high in his fourth outing of 2022 and the five base runners allowed was his lowest total this year.