Brewers benefit by doing things the right way

CINCINNATI – There were so many things that went well for the Brewers in their 4-2 victory over Cincinnati on Easter Sunday, it was difficult to know where to begin.

Wily Peralta turned in his third consecutive solid start to begin the season, reversing a frustrating trend of past seasons. The hard-throwing bullpen triumvirate of Jacob Barnes, Corey Knebel and Neftali Feliz continued to be a win- ning formula.

Ryan Braun did what he does at Great American Ball Park, hitting another home run. His tote board now reads 22 career homers in that hitter-friendly venue and 37 overall for his career against the Reds. If the Brewers and Reds play a series and Braun doesn’t homer, it’s breaking news.

Which brings us to Eric Thames, who has made an impression in his 11 games played with the Brewers like no other who came before him. He checked into GABP with one and checked out with six.

“That’s incredibly impressive,” Braun said. “I can’t remember a time in my career where a guy has hit five home runs in a single series. I’m sure it has happened. I just don’t recall it.

“He’s obviously locked in. We’re seeing a really, really impressive hitter starting to emerge. It’s exciting. It’s exciting for us. It bodes well, both near-term and long-term, for the organization. Hopefully, he continues to be close to the player he has been to this point because it has been impressive.”

The Reds, who know all too well how many times they play the Brewers every season, certainly were impressed with the Eric Thames Show, which they were happy to see leave town.

“I heard he had a cult following in Korea. I’d imagine very shortly he’ll have a cult following in Milwaukee as well,” Cincinnati manager Bryan Price said. “That was very, very impressive. He didn’t miss the

pitches he got to hit.

“That was really our first significant taste of him beyond spring training and it was impressive.”

Peralta got off to a shaky start by walking the first two hitters but catcher Manny Piña, who continues to impress, helped him out by throwing out the speedy Billy Hamilton trying to steal second. After that, the only hiccup by Peralta came in the fourth when he hung a slider to Eugenio Suarez, who belted it for a two-run homer.

“Manny throwing out Hamilton was a big play in the game to get Wily back on that,” manager Craig Counsell said. “He really settled down after that first inning and pitched very well. Once he got settled in, he was real good.”

Thames has remarked about the number of hard-throwing relievers he has seen already and the Brewers certainly are giving opponents a dose of that same medicine with

Barnes, Knebel and Feliz. Counsell has used them to cover the final three innings three times with the same result: a Brewers victory.

“With how well they’re throwing the ball, we’re going to go to those guys,” Counsell said. “It’s big velocity. That’s a pretty nice threesome right now.

“Wily had to push pretty hard to get through that sixth (inning) last time in Toronto. That, and the combination of how these guys are throwing the ball, that’s why we went to Jacob (in the seventh).”

Afterward, Counsell noted that Thames probably wanted to stay at GABP but no way the Brewers were leaving him behind. They might have had to wrap him in asbestos for the flight to Chicago, however.

“He’s locked in right now,” said Travis Shaw, who homered on his birthday for the first time at any level. “Everybody is trying to emulate him. His adjustment thing (from Korea) is going pretty smoothly thus far. Five home runs in a month is pretty good, much less in a series.”

Hard to argue with that.