Getting a lead to bullpen has been a winning script for Brewers this season

Very few major-league teams, if any, feel better these days about turning over leads to the bullpen than the Milwaukee Brewers.

That's why, even though starter Chase Anderson had thrown only 80 pitches through six innings Monday night against Arizona, manager Craig Counsell didn't hesitate to give the ball to Matt Albers. Then Jeremy Jeffress.

Then, finally, Corey Knebel, who for the first time this year got to hear Joe Walsh's "Rocky Mountain Way," his ninth-inning entrance song at Miller Park. 

"It was good to hear. I like that song," said Knebel, given his first save opportunity since the season-opening series in San Diego in March.

Knebel missed five weeks with a hamstring injury suffered during the opening home stand. During his absence, the rest of the bullpen bloomed, including strikeout sensation Josh Hader and savvy veteran Jeremy Jeffress, whose earned run average is so low it only went down .01 with a scoreless inning in the 4-2 victory over the Diamondbacks.

"As long as it goes down," Jeffress said with a smile.

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This was one of those victories you had to work for, even though Arizona has lost 11 of 12 games to give away what had been a commanding lead in the NL West. Heck, the Diamondbacks have even let the Los Angeles Dodgers back in it after their woeful start.

Anderson showed some rust in the first inning after sitting out two weeks, including 10 days on the disabled list after a stomach ailment had him reeling. But Anderson was dominant after that opening hiccup, with the exception of a home run by Jake Lamb in the sixth.

The Brewers answered with three home runs off Zack Greinke, who made just enough mistakes to lose the game. Travis Shaw was sitting on a changeup in the first inning and blasted one for a two-run homer. Domingo Santana was not taking on 3-0 in the fourth and knocked a down-the-middle fastball the other way and into the right-field picnic area.

In the sixth, Greinke did not get a 2-2 fastball as high as he wanted it and Lorenzo Cain crushed it far out to left for the final run of the game. The 4-2 lead was plenty for the run protection firm of Albers, Jeffress and Knebel. 

Of Knebel finally getting a shot to convert a save, Shaw said, "Everybody was waiting for him to get back out there. He looked like old Corey right there.

"The theme is that if we get to the seventh with a lead, we're going to win a majority of those games. It's nice to have that feeling. It's also nice to know if you're down, the bullpen is going to keep it there and you can scratch back."

Managers no longer pay a ton of attention to pitch counts. It's more about how many outs you want out of your starter. After being on the DL, Anderson gave Counsell 18 outs, and that was enough to call it a night.

"I feel like I could have gone farther but it was probably smart not to go any farther after (14) days off," Anderson said. "I came out of the game feeling pretty good. It felt good to be back out there and contribute to the team. 

"We've got a super bullpen. You're never afraid to hand the ball to those guys."

The Diamondbacks are struggling on offense nowthe way the Brewers were earlier in the season, so it doesn't take a lot of runs to beat them. The only game they've won out of the last 12 was a 2-1 squeaker over the Brewers last Tuesday that Greinke started at home.

Coming off a stellar 7-3 three-city trip, the Brewers wanted to get longest home stand of the season - a 10-gamer - off on the right foot, and that's what they did. Since the dreadful four-game sweep by the Cubs in Chicago in late April, the Brewers are 13-6.

"Chase did a phenomenal job, getting us 18 outs," Counsell said. "After that, it lined up really well (with the bullpen). That was kind of the script going into the game. Any time you have a pitcher like Greinke on the mound, playing with a lead is significant."

And protecting those leads has been the Brewers' forte over the first seven-plus weeks of the season. 

"Everybody can do it and 'Couns' knows that," Knebel said. "We'll all be ready."