By Joe Totoraitis, Associated Press
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Eric Thames, Travis Shaw and Jonathan Villar each homered, Wily Peralta pitched five effective innings, and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Colorado Rockies 6-1 Wednesday night.
Thames hit a 3-1 pitch 450 feet to deep center, and Shaw teed off on a 1-0 pitch for a two-run homer job off Tyler Chatwood (0-1) in the bottom of the fourth. The Brewers added the left-handed hitting tandem to rebalance last season's predominantly right-handed lineup.
Villar ended the Colorado bullpen's scoreless streak at 9 1/3 innings this season with a two-run shot in the eighth.
Peralta (1-0) allowed three hits over five innings. He struck out five and walked one. He's already off to a better start than a year ago when he lost his first three outings and struggled through 10 more before being demoted to Triple-A Colorado Springs. He pitched effectively in his final 10 starts after being recalled, posting a 3-4 record with a 2.92 ERA.
Neftali Feliz came on with two outs and the bases loaded and struck out Charlie Blackmon for his first save of the season and the 100th of his career.
Mark Reynolds had a run-scoring single off Taylor Jungmann in the ninth.
Chatwood, who was 8-1 away from Coors Field and had a franchise-record 1.69 road ERA last season, allowed four runs on seven hits over six innings. He walked one and struck out five in his first appearance at Miller Park.
Hernan Perez doubled home a run in the sixth.
