adrian houser-milwaukee brewers

With the Milwaukee Brewers trailing the Phillies 8-5 heading into the eighth inning Sunday, manager Craig Counsell called on a 25-year-old reliever named Adrian Houser, who had been called up from Triple-A earlier in the day. Houser jogged in from the bullpen, took the hill, threw some warm-ups pitches and then… vomited. Right there behind the mound.

After a visit from the Brewers’ training staff, some water and a brief delay, Houser re-assumed the rubber, and promptly allowed a double to Jorge Alfaro. He induced Jesmuel Valentin to ground out to third base but was then hit with another round of sickness and deposited his lunch on the mound.

With Brewers fans predictably chanting “puke and rally,” Houser served up an RBI double to Scott Kingery before retiring the final two batters of the inning, to head back to the dugout having allowed one run on two hits and a whole lot of vomit.

It’s hard to remember a similar situation, in which a baseball player actually threw up on the mound, in full view of the crowd and the television cameras.

One question Counsell and Houser will have to answer after the game is why a pitcher who was visibly sick was sent into the game and the allowed to stay there after multiple mound visits. His presence out there wasn’t good for him and his ERA, it wasn’t good for the team, and it certainly wasn’t good for the poor grounds crew… even if it was kind of funny.

About Alex Putterman

Alex is a writer and editor for The Comeback and Awful Announcing. He has written for The Atlantic, VICE Sports, MLB.com, SI.com and more. He is a proud alum of Northwestern University and The Daily Northwestern. You can find him on Twitter @AlexPutterman.