Jake Bauers crowns an incredible clinch day

What better way to celebrate a second consecutive Central Division title than with a dramatic walk-off victory?

Jake Bauers, who entered the game with a .196 batting average, hit a single to right with the bases loaded in the ninth inning to beat the Philadelphia Phillies 2-1 at American Family Field.

Bauer's heroics capped a crazy day for the Brewers, who became the first team this season to clinch a playoff berth with the Oakland A's victory over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.

They then battled against strong right-hander Aaron Nola from Philadelphia. A home run by Rhys Hoskins in the fifth inning was the only point against him in his seven innings.

Milwaukee (88-64), which had to postpone its clinch party until after the game, can now celebrate properly after earning its fifth walkoff victory of the year.

Jackson Chourio sets the stage

With Carlos Estévez on the mound, rookie Jackson Chourio jumped on the right-hander's second pitch – a slider over the plate – and hit it into the corner of right field.

Chourio sailed around the bases and hit a triple that electrified the crowd. The Phillies followed by intentionally getting William Contreras on base, with Garrett Mitchell getting a strikeout and Willy Adames getting a walk to load the bases.

Bauers wasted no time in ending the game, blasting a 98.3 mph fastball past Bryce Harper into right field, sparking wild cheers on the field.

No answers for Aaron Nola

Nola seemed unfazed by Hoskins' home run to tie the game in the fifth inning and ended the night by striking out the next nine batters.

Willy Adames nearly gave the Brewers the lead when he hit a long fly ball to right center, but Johan Rojas stopped underneath and caught the ball just past the wall to take the breath away from the 30,048 spectators.

Nola allowed only three hits, the only run through a home run and one walk in 97 pitches and had nine strikeouts.

Behind Peralta, the Brewers got strong relief, with Joe Ross and Jared Koenig combining to pitch a scoreless sixth inning and Koenig then throwing a 1-2-3 seventh inning.

Brice Turang made a terrific defensive play in the bottom of the sixth inning when he ran up the middle after a grounder by Bryson Stott and left two runners in batting position with an unbalanced but accurate throw to first base.

Orion Kerkering replaced Nola for the eighth inning and took out the team one by one, leaving Milwaukee with only one baserunner since the fourth inning – Hoskins' home run.

Devin Williams followed Trevor Megill's scoreless eighth inning by throwing out the team in the ninth inning.

Rhys Hoskins pursues his old buddy

Nola entered the evening 7-2 with a 2.76 ERA and a 1.12 WHIP in 13 career starts against Milwaukee.

Unsurprisingly, this trend continued, as the right-hander kept the Brewers off the scoreboard in the first four innings with his five-pitch mix.

His former teammate Hoskins finally broke through early in the fifth inning against Nola when, after committing four consecutive fouls, he jumped on a breaking ball over the plate and hammered it into left-center field.

For Hoskins it was the 25th home run of the season and tied the game at 1:1.

The Phillies strike first

After making short work of the Phillies in the first inning, striking out Trea Turner and Bryce Harper, Peralta made the game's first big mistake, leaving a down-and-away slider far enough over the plate for Alec Bohm to send over the left-center field wall to give Philadelphia a 1-0 lead in the second inning.

In addition to increasing his pitch count, Peralta was solid in other ways, limiting the Phillies to a single run. He allowed two hits and two walks, struck out nine players and caused 16 swings and misses in his five-inning, 91-pitch outing.

Brewer's time, television, radio

The Brewers game begins at 6:40 p.m. on Wednesday.

Television: Bally Sports Wisconsin. Radio: AM-620 and a state network.

Brewers lineup

• Brice Turang 2B

• Jackson Chourio LF

• William Contreras C

• Garrett Mitchell CF

• Willy Adames SS

• Jake Bauer's DH

• Rhys Hoskins 1B

• Sal Frelick RF

• Joey Ortiz 3B

• Freddy Peralta 3B

Phillies lineup

• Kyle Schwarber DH

• Trea Turner SS

• Bryce Harper1B

• Nick Castellanos RF

• Alec Bohm3B

• Bryson Stott 2B

• Brandon Marsh LF

• Johan Rojas CF

• Garrett Stubbs C

• Aaron Nola SP

What is the Brewers' record?

The Brewers are 87-64.

This article originally appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers 2, Phillies 1: Jake Bauers wins the victory to cap an incredible clinch day