After fattening up early against weak teams, Brewers now showing they can beat contenders

Tom Haudricourt | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

PHOENIX - The Brewers have been laying waste to the early-season narrative that they could only beat the bad teams.

Fresh off winning three of four games in Colorado to kick off this three-city, 10-game trip, the Brewers drew first blood Monday night in the series opener against Arizona at Chase Field. After an even battle for six innings, the Brewers scored five late runs to pull away to a 7-2 victory.

In a duel of the two best bullpens in the majors to this point, the Diamondbacks blinked first. Arizona starter Patrick Corbin, who had been unbeaten, took the loss but it was the pitchers who followed him that took decisive lumps.

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"This is a very good baseball team," manager Craig Counsell said of Arizona. "Tough to beat them at their place. It was a good start to the series. We did the job."

Counsell used a lot of an already well-used bullpen to get through the four games at Coors Field and mentioned before the game how much he needed a decent start from Junior Guerra. The veteran right-hander obliged with six solid innings, allowing only three hits and two runs to go with four walks and three strikeouts.

Guerra did it the hard way, unable to get his trademark splitter over the plate. That left him throwing mostly fastballs, just as Freddy Peralta did Sunday in his major-league debut, and Guerra made it work.

"It was a lot of fastballs, and it was a good fastball tonight," Counsell said. "There were a bunch of 95's (mph) up there. So, probably his best fastball. He just didn't feel great with the split so he stuck with the fastball."

The Brewers have been a team of opportunity seekers and tonight was Jonathan Villar's turn. He wasn't in the lineup until Ryan Braun was scratched before game time with a back issue, opening the door for Villar to get a start.

It's no secret that Villar has not come close to duplicating the solid offensive performance he turned in two years ago, and he had been riding the pine a lot of late. The switch-hitter had been particularly woeful batting right-handed (.143 batting average) but collected two hits off Corbin before adding a lefty homer later against reliever Fernando Salas.

"They say I don't play today but I came ready to play because you never know," Villar said. "They give me the opportunity to play today. It is important to be ready.

"I feel better. That's big to get three hits for me. I want to play every day. Tomorrow is another day. I don't know if I will play but I will come ready to play."

This Brewers team has a knack for showing you something you've never seen, or haven't seen for some time. It was newcomer Tyler Saladino's turn to produce this time and he came through with one of the rarest plays in baseball -- the inside-the-park home run.

When Saladino's drive to center in the ninth inning eluded diving A.J. Pollock, who was injured on the play, it was easy to assume the runner would keep going. But that's easier said than done, and those last 90 feet can seem like a mile when you're huffing and puffing for breathable air.

Asked if he said "Oh, no" or "Oh, yes" when he saw third base coach Ed Sedar waving him around, Saladino smiled and said, "A little bit of both."

"It doesn't happen very often so you've got to dig a little deeper than normal," Saladino added. "It's 'all right, here we go. Last stretch. Everything you've got.' I can't remember the last time I did something like that. You just give it everything you've got.

"I think I hit one in summer ball (as a youth), something like that. It was fun."

Getting a rare night off, or at least part of it, Christian Yelich also came off the bench with a big hit to snap the 2-2 tie in the seventh. Arizona lefty Andrew Chafin was summoned to face the lefty-hitting Yelich, who punched the first pitch to left for an RBI single.

"You don't really get many pitches to hit with a guy like that," Yelich said. "I was just trying to get something into the outfield and was able to do that. Tonight, I got him. He'll probably get me later. That's how baseball works sometimes."

That left it to by far the best part of this club -- the bullpen. Josh Hader came through again with two scoreless innings but actually looked human for a change, only striking out two batters. After the Brewers scored three in the ninth, Corey Knebel sat down in the bullpen and Taylor Williams got ready quickly to close out the Diamondbacks.

There was a time not that long ago that Arizona had by far the best record in the National League. But, after winning the series opener, the first-place Brewers were 25-17, a half-game better than the Diamondbacks' 24-17.

"We knew coming in it was going to be a tough game, a tough series," Yelich said. "It was a hard-fought team win."