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There's no better way to cap off the clinching of a second straight Central Division title than with a dramatic walk-off victory.

And maybe nobody better to author the hit than Jake Bauers, a perfect embodiment of the 2024 Milwaukee Brewers.

With Bauers beginning the day with a .196 average and 0 for 3 entering his pivotal at-bat, probably very few among the crowd of 30,048 expected him to deliver.

Yet there he was, lining a bases-loaded single to right in the ninth inning to beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-1, Wednesday night at American Family Field.

Bauer's heroics capped what was a crazy day for the Brewers, who became the first team to clinch a playoff spot in the major leagues this season when the Oakland A's beat the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field in the late afternoon.

BOX SCORE: Brewers 2, Phillies 1

Then, they went out and battled tough Philadelphia right-hander Aaron Nola, riding a fifth-inning home run by Rhys Hoskins and terrific pitching from Freddy Peralta, Joe Ross, Jared Koenig, Trevor Megill and finally Devin Williams into the ninth inning.

And with one fluid swing of the bat, Bauers snapped a 1-1 tie and with his 41st run batted in etched his name onto the ever-growing list of timely contributors on this team that has excelled all season in tight games.

"It means everything," Bauers said. "That's why you play the game, right? To get in those situations and come through."

Milwaukee (88-64), which had to postpone its clinch party until after the game, was then able to celebrate in style after having pulled off its fifth walkoff win of the year.

"Murph talks about there are a number of guys on this team who you didn't know if they'd be in the major leagues this year," said team principal owner Mark Attanasio. "Yet here they're helping us clinch a playoff spot, the division.

"That was a big spot for Jake Bauers. Great closer for the Phillies, and first pitch, he went after it."

Jackson Chourio sets the stage

Indeed, Bauers did.

But it was electric rookie Jackson Chourio who set the table for him as he jumped on the second pitch thrown by Carlos Estévez – a slider out over the plate – and lined it into the corner in right field.

Chourio sailed around the bases and slid into third head-first. The Phillies followed up by putting William Contreras on base intentionally, with Garrett Mitchell following by striking out and Willy Adames walking to load the bases.

That brought Bauers to the plate, and he wasted no time ending it as he lined a 98.3 mph fastball past first baseman Bryce Harper into right field. Chourio rushed home, the rest of the team converged on the infield, and the party had begun.

"When I'm in the dugout getting ready for that at-bat, I'm just telling myself, 'This one's you. This one's you,'" Bauers said. "Luckily, I was mentally ready and put myself in a good spot, got a pitch to hit and got it.

"He's got a good fastball. You've got to get him down, and threw one bottom of the zone."

Bauers has played a significant role on the team this year after having been acquired from the New York Yankees last November in exchange for a pair of minor-leaguers.

While his average remains below the Mendoza Line, he's one of eight Brewers to have reached double digits in homers (11) and also played standout defense at first base when given the opportunity (57 starts).

"A lot of ups, a lot of downs," is how Bauers described his season to date. "I've had some hot streaks, I've had some cold streaks. Just try to show up every day with a 'win tonight' attitude like (manager Pat Murphy) is always preaching about, and try to contribute any way I can."

Bauers hit for the cycle with Cleveland in 2019, but what he experienced in this one tops his list of baseball moments.

"Man, I'll tell you what," he said. "Aside from the hit and the walk-off, just walking off the field after getting mobbed by my teammates and hearing the crowd screaming, man, that was probably No. 1 for me, for sure."

Rhys Hoskins haunts his old pal

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

Not surprisingly, that trend continued as the right-hander kept the Brewers off the board for the first four innings with his five-pitch mix and pinpoint control.

Milwaukee had managed only three baserunners through four innings against him and trailed by a score of 1-0 until Hoskins, his longtime Phillies teammate and good friend, finally broke through to start the bottom of the fifth.

Hoskins got ahead in the count, 2-0, before fouling off four consecutive pitches. Then, he jumped on a breaking ball out over the plate and pounded it out to left-center.

It was the 25th homer of the season for Hoskins and tied things up at 1-1.

"Close," is how Hoskins described his relationship with Nola. "I spent a lot of time with him. I think only him and Ranger Suárez are the only two guys are left over there with the Phillies when I got drafted there (in 2014).

"Spent a lot of time with 'Noles.' Five straight years, we got to experience a lot. But yeah, it's always fun to compete against friends and it's always a little sweeter to beat your friends.

"But something tells me that's not the last time we're going to see those guys."

Considering the amount of time Hoskins played defensively behind Nola, did he get into the box feeling like he knew Nola's tendencies? He also homered against another former teammate, Zack Wheeler, in his return to Philadelphia on June 3.

"Maybe. But he knows mine, too," Hoskins said. "He watched me hit a lot over there. I think all it does is it ratchets up the intensity just a tick higher, and most of the time, that's a good thing."

Freddy Peralta & Co. delivered

Nola seemingly was unaffected by the Hoskins homer, as he set down the next nine hitters to close out his night.

Willy Adames did get close to giving the Brewers the lead when he lofted a long fly ball to right-center, but Johan Rojas settled under it and gloved it just shy of the wall.

Nola allowed just three hits, the lone run on the homer and a walk with nine strikeouts over 97 pitches.

Pitching opposite Nola was Peralta, who rebounded from a one-out, solo homer to Alec Bohm in the second to keep Philadelphia off the board for the rest of his five-inning, 91-pitch outing.

The efficiency wasn't there overall, as has often been the case, but there was no arguing with the right-hander's final line: Two hits allowed, one run, two walks and nine strikeouts.

And credit to Peralta and the rest of his teammates for maintaining their focus after clinching hours before taking the field.

"When we got here today, we knew the situation," he said. "We saw the Cubs lost and that we had clinched already. But as a group, we talked and let everybody know we're not going to do any (celebrating) now. We've still got to win tonight, and after that we'll do whatever we need to do.

"We were all focused in the game, knowing that we were already in the spot (as Central champs)."

Following Peralta were Ross and Koenig, who combined for a scoreless sixth thanks to a tremendous defensive play at second base by Brice Turang. He ranged up the middle on a two-out grounder by Bryson Stott and made an off-balance but accurate throw to first to strand a pair of runners in scoring position.

Koenig followed with a 1-2-3 seventh, and Megill erased a leadoff single in the eighth to hand the game over to Williams for the ninth. He struck out the side, and as a result of the Bauers hit earned his first victory of the season (1-0).

Phillies strike first

After Peralta made quick work of the Phillies in the first inning, including striking out Trea Turner and Bryce Harper, he made the game's first big mistake by leaving a down-and-away slider out over the plate enough that Alec Bohm was able to send it over the wall in left-center to give Philadelphia a 1-0 lead in the second.

Peralta, aside from running his pitch count up, was solid the rest of the way in limiting the Phillies to the lone run. He allowed two hits and two walks while striking out nine and generating 16 swings and misses over his five-inning, 91-pitch outing.

Brewers time, TV, radio

The Brewers game starts at 6:40 p.m. Wednesday.

TV: 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 Bauers DH

• Rhys Hoskins 1B

• Sal Frelick RF

• Joey Ortiz 3B

• Freddy Peralta 3B

Phillies lineup

• Kyle Schwarber DH

• Trea Turner SS

• Bryce Harper 1B

• Nick Castellanos RF

• Alec Bohm 3B

• Bryson Stott 2B

• Brandon Marsh LF

• Johan Rojas CF

• Garrett Stubbs C

• Aaron Nola SP

What is the Brewers record?

The Brewers are 88-64.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers 2, Phillies 1: Jake Bauers walks it off to cap an incredible clinch day