Jhoulys Chacín finally delivers as the Brewers post their third shutout in four games

Instead of opening his post-game news conference by discussing his team's suddenly red-hot offense, Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell made sure he gave a tip of his hat to a pitching staff that's also caught fire of late.

"I’d like to start with the pitching tonight first, because the pitching was outstanding," he said in the aftermath of the Brewers' 8-0 victory over the Miami Marlins at Miller Park on Friday night. "We pitched a heck of a game."

Starter Jhoulys Chacín set the tone, overcoming a 27-pitch first inning to throw a season-high six scoreless innings in winning his first game for the Brewers.

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Dan Jennings, Taylor Williams and Oliver Drake followed, and when all was said and done Milwaukee had posted its third shutout in four games. The Brewers blanked the CIncinnati Reds, 2-0, in the final two games of their previous series, and have now outscored the Marlins halfway through the teams' four-game set by a total of 20-3.

They've also won a season-high four straight games, their longest winning streak since Aug. 12-16 of last year.

"Wins are always fun and the way we’re playing right now, I’m happy that I was part of it," said Chacín.

Having signed a two-year, $15.5 million free-agent deal with the Brewers in the off-season, the right-hander had failed to impress in his previous four starts. He came into Friday 0-1 with a 5.60 earned-run average and a WHIP of 1.93.

"I’m happy I threw those six innings today," he added. "I really needed that. You need to start from something and hopefully this is the start to getting better."

It looked like it was going to be another struggle early for Chacín, who gave up a leadoff single and then a one-out walk as Miami got to work quickly. But he responded by striking out the Marlins' two best hitters, cleanup man Justin Bour and J.T. Realmuto, to escape the jam.

The Brewers scored a run in the bottom of the frame off Trevor Richards, and Chacín never really faced any jams the rest of the way. Miami had two on with two outs against him in the sixth, but Tomas Telis grounded out.

Chacín threw 102 pitches and allowed four hits — all singles — and three walks while tying a season high with five strikeouts.

"Today I was commanding my fastball better," he said. "I was able to throw my fastball away from righties better. My slider wasn’t as good as I wanted, but everything is starting to get better and my changeup is going to come, too.

"I’m just happy I helped the team win today and I think everything is going to start getting together for us."

Everything got going for the Brewers' offense against RIchards in the fourth inning.

Not surprisingly, Lorenzo Cain was in the middle of the action. He kickstarted the decisive rally by drawing a two-out walk, then Christian Yelich drove him in with a triple to right field.

Ryan Braun and Travis Shaw followed with home runs on consecutive pitches, and after Richards was chased the Brewers added another run on a wild pitch to make it 6-0.

They capped the scoring in the sixth, getting RBI singles from Shaw and Orlando Arcia.

Cain, Yelich, Braun, Shaw and Eric Thames — the team's first five hitters — combined to reach base an incredible 16 times. The Brewers also set a new season high for walks for the second consecutive night, drawing eight in all.

"The offense, we put pressure on the starting pitcher," Counsell said. "It started with Cain and Yelich and their at-bats. Lo’s at-bat in the fourth inning — two outs with nobody on and he’s down in the count two strikes and battles for a walk and all of a sudden we’ve got a five-spot up there.

"We made it tough on the opposing guy. I think our first five guys were on base (16) times against him. That’s pretty impressive, and we got rolling a little bit. We didn’t break through in the first couple innings, but the third time around we got him."

The output the Brewers have gotten the past two games from Cain and Yelich atop the lineup is exactly what they were hoping for when they acquired both on the same day late in January.

Cain has now hit safely in eight of his last nine games, hitting .344 while drawing nine walks over that span to up his on-base percentage to .402 on the season. Yelich is hitting .375, drawn five walks and also been hit by a pitch in the three games he's played since returning from an oblique strain on Wednesday. 

"When they’re getting on base 6-7 times, you think you’re going to be able to score runs leading into Braun, Shaw, Thames, (Domingo) Santana, (Jesús) Aguilar — whoever’s in there," said Counsell. "When they’re on base you feel pretty good that we’re going to be able to produce runs.

"It’s what two good hitters at the top of your lineup and two guys that are getting on base consistently do to the other team — it makes it tough."

The only bad news to come out of Friday's game was the rolled right ankle suffered by Arcia in the eighth inning. He singled to right then jammed his foot into the bag sliding back in after Realmuto tried throwing him out after making a wide turn.

Arcia had to be helped off the field, but Counsell said afterward that X-rays were negative and he'd be re-evaluated prior to Saturday's game.

It's the same ankle that Arcia fractured as a minor-leaguer in 2012 — an injury that forced him to miss that entire season — but Arcia was breathing a sigh of relief after that the injury was likely only a sprain.

"It's definitely best-case scenario," he said through translator Carlos Brizuela. "They just told me everything was good. Nothing broken, nothing bad. We've just got to wait until tomorrow to see how I feel."

Arcia provided the biggest defensive highlight of the game before getting hurt, robbing J.B. Shuck of a bloop single to open the seventh when he ranged out to short left field and caught the ball on a dead sprint with his back to the infield.

"I don't know how I caught it," he said with a laugh.

When asked when he actually saw the ball, Arcia didn't hesitate.

"When I felt it in the glove," he said.