The 2021 baseball season has been labeled as the year of the pitcher. For the Milwaukee Brewers, their starting rotation has been headlined by three great players in Brandon Woodruff, Corbin Burnes, and Freddy Peralta. On Saturday night, it was Adrian Houser who made history as he was able to throw the teams first shutout in seven years.
With throwing a complete game shutout, Houser snapped the longest streak of games without one by a team in MLB history. The last Brewers to throw a shutout was Kyle Lohse during the 2014 season.
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Prior to @AdrianHouser12 tonight, the last complete game shutout for the #Brewers came on 9/24/14 at Cincinnati by Kyle Lohse, a span of 1,011 games, the longest active streak in the Major Leagues.
— Mike Vassallo (@MikeVassallo13) September 5, 2021
On the night, Houser was able to keep his pitch count low by pounding the strike zone. This combination along with being a pitch to contact player helped him achieve a complete game shutout.
Of Houser’s 100 pitchers thrown, 76 of them were strikes. He faced 29 Cardinals throughout the duration of the game and threw a first pitch strike to 25 batters. Of his 25 strike one calls, 19 of those pitches were taken looking. He retired seven Cardinals via the strikeout.
Along with Houser attacking the strike zone, the Brewers defense was superb as well. This includes a play from Houser himself in the seventh inning when a liner was hit right back at him. The ball bounced back towards home plate, but he remained calm and threw out the runner at first. Another key play was in the fifth inning when Rowdy Tellez had a great short hop pick on a throw from Willy Adames that resulted in an inning ending double play.
Out of all the Brewers pitchers, Houser was not the favorite to snap this streak. Thankfully that is what makes baseball such a great game. You never know who is going to step up on any given night, and Saturday night belonged to Adrian Houser.
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