When Houston general manager Dana Brown recently dismissed the notion of the struggling Astros being sellers at the trade deadline, his premise was grounded in the belief that his club would reel off a lengthy winning streak that would get it back to .500 and into postseason contention.

With their 5-4 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday in the opener of a three-game interleague series, the Astros extended their winning streak to six games and improved to 8-1 in their past nine. Houston remains five games under .500, but for the first time this season, the Astros appear to have generated sustainable and positive momentum heading into Saturday evening's clash in Houston.

"I see a team who is playing with some urgency," Astros manager Joe Espada said. "We've got a little bit of edge to our game, on both sides of the ball. You could see the swag, you can hear the energy. It's time for us to pick it up and play our baseball, and we're doing that."

The Astros parlayed a pair of multi-run homers from Jake Meyers and Jeremy Pena into an early lead before four relievers preserved a one-run advantage over four innings. Former Milwaukee closer Josh Hader put a bow on the victory with his sixth save, capping an all-around effort -- the type of performance that seems to validate the idea that the Astros have found themselves.

"We know that we've got a great team," Pena said. "We've got to keep showing up, keeping putting in the work, and then doing the little things right: playing good defense, pitching, driving runners in with two outs. And that's what we're doing."

Right-hander Justin Verlander (2-1, 3.38 ERA) is scheduled to start for the Astros on Saturday. He is coming off his best start of the season: seven scoreless innings with two hits and two walks allowed plus a season-high eight strikeouts in a 9-3 win over the Detroit Tigers on Sunday. Verlander has allowed two or fewer runs in four of his five starts this season.

He is 2-0 with a 1.57 ERA over four career starts against the Brewers. He tossed the first of his three career no-hitters against Milwaukee on June 12, 2007, and his single-game high of 15 strikeouts came against the Brewers on June 12, 2019.

Right-hander Bryse Wilson (2-1, 2.65 ERA) has the starting assignment for the Brewers on Saturday. He did not factor into the decision in his last start, against the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday after allowing two runs on five hits and five walks with one strikeout over four innings in his team's 4-3 loss.

Wilson has made two scoreless relief appearances against the Astros, both coming last season.

While the Astros work to climb into playoff contention, Milwaukee leads the National League Central with a 26-18 mark under first-year manager Pat Murphy.

Brewers rookie third baseman Joey Ortiz continued his torrid stretch at the plate Friday, finishing 3-for-4 with his seventh double, fifth home run and three RBIs -- just a triple short of the cycle. He is batting 17-for-49 (.347) with all five homers and 12 RBIs over his past 16 games after entering the season as the seventh-best prospect in the Brewers' organization, according to Baseball America.

Ortiz was acquired on Feb. 1 as part of the trade that sent right-hander Corbin Burnes to Baltimore, and he's paying dividends.

Ortiz's three-run homer in the fourth inning Friday temporarily gave his team the lead. Before flying out against Hader in the ninth inning, Ortiz had reached base safely eight straight times, becoming the first Milwaukee player to do that since Jace Peterson in August 2021.

"He's looked great," Murphy said of Ortiz. "He really has. Both offensively and on defense. He's stepped up."