CHICAGO -- The losses have mounted but the Brewers will continue to start young left-hander Aaron Ashby, according to manager Craig Counsell.

Ashby surrendered six runs over five innings of a classic wind-blown slugfest at Wrigley Field on Friday and actually departed with a lead in what became an 8-7 Brewers loss to the Cubs, his team’s 11th defeat in Ashby’s last 12 starts. He has a 5.91 ERA over that stretch, but the Brewers have seen the value before in sticking with talented, developing pitchers, and it seems they will do the same here even as a fifth consecutive postseason berth hangs in the balance.

Friday’s loss, with six lead changes and five home runs between the teams all within the first six innings, was the Brewers’ 11th defeat in their last 17 games. It denied them a chance to gain ground on the Cardinals in the National League Central standings or the Padres in the chase for the final NL Wild Card spot.

“Look, the pitcher doesn’t have all of the control over that statistic,” Counsell said, referring to team wins and losses. “So we try to evaluate these guys in stuff they have control over. In those areas, Aaron is pitching pretty well.”

The Brewers have a more established starter in right-hander Adrian Houser nearing a return from the injured list. He threw 67 pitches in a shaky start for Triple-A Nashville last time out and is scheduled to start for the Sounds again on Sunday.

When Houser returns, do the Brewers intend to keep Ashby in the rotation?

“Yes,” Counsell said.

The Brewers have a full schedule -- they’re early in a stretch of 31 games in 31 days with only one open date -- so they could opt to run with six starters down the stretch. But Houser’s return at least presents the possibility of using Ashby in the hybrid role once used to great effect for the likes of Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff and Freddy Peralta as they broke into the big leagues.

Coming into this season, that’s the role the Brewers had in mind for Ashby. But injuries to other starters pushed Ashby into full-time starter duties, and he signed a five-year contract extension in July that reinforced the Brewers’ belief in his promise as a starting pitcher.

“We definitely believe in Ashby,” said Brewers senior vice president and GM Matt Arnold. “He’s showing inconsistencies. We know from almost every young starter, whether that’s Burnes, Woodruff, Peralta, the anchors of our staff now, that this is not any different and he’s going to be fine.”

What do the Brewers intend to do with Houser when he’s ready?

“I don’t know yet. Honestly, I really don’t,” Arnold said. “Those things sometimes work themselves out. And the way we’ve deployed pitching on this staff, whether it’s moving guys around, maybe giving guys extra rest, there are a lot of different ways. We’ve talked about a couple of those, but we don’t have anything finalized yet.”

On Friday, Ashby was charged with six runs on eight hits, though some of those were aided by the elements and he actually left with the Brewers leading, 7-6, after home runs from Andrew McCutchen, Rowdy Tellez and Hunter Renfroe. The Cubs, though, took the lead for good on Christopher Morel’s two-run homer off Hoby Milner in the bottom of the sixth before the wind shifted and both teams’ bats quieted.

It was a little thing that burned Ashby early to open his outing. Pitching with a 2-0 lead in the first inning, he induced a Nick Madrigal ground ball to the right side of the infield and was slow covering first base. That wound up extending the frame for three consecutive two-out, run-scoring Cubs hits -- Seiya Suzuki’s double, Franmil Reyes’ wind-blown triple and Ian Happ’s infield single -- for a 3-2 Chicago lead.

“Costly play, costly error on my part,” Ashby said. “Just not getting over quick enough cost me three runs there in the first inning.”

It’s a known issue for Ashby, whose delivery spins him off the mound toward third base in such a way that makes it challenging to field the position. The Brewers and Ashby have worked on it.

Still, Brewers hitters gave Ashby a chance. Tellez hit a solo homer in the third inning two batters before Renfroe smashed a go-ahead two-run shot off the left-field scoreboard to make it 5-4. But Ashby gave up the lead again in the fifth when he misfired a changeup and Patrick Wisdom hit it for a two-run home run.

Ashby fell to 2-10 with a 4.58 ERA in 96 1/3 innings this season.

“I feel like it’s a battle every time, which, it’s going to be like that,” he said. “I’m not sure that it’s – I guess I don’t have an answer, quite, on the feeling. It sucks not being able to come in here and be able to feel like I contributed to a team win in a while.”

What now?

“Stick to the process,” Ashby said. “I think what we’re doing and what we’re working on is good. We’re heading in the right direction. Just got to keep trusting it.”