Devin Williams and Josh Hader lock down Braves after Freddy Peralta's 10-strikeout performance Monday night

Even for a team with a pitching staff like the Milwaukee Brewers, the collective effort turned in by Freddy Peralta, Devin Williams and Josh Hader on Monday night would be tough to beat.

Peralta set the tone with seven strong innings, getting better as the game progressed, and then Williams and Hader simply slammed the door on the Atlanta Braves, combining to strike out all six batters they faced to finish off a 1-0 victory at American Family Field.

The trio combined for 16 strikeouts as Milwaukee registered its second shutout of the season and first against Atlanta since June 25, 2017.

Peralta allowed a pair of singles and one walk, but two of those three baserunners came in the opening inning. After that, it was 20 up, 19 down with only a Marcell Ozuna single in the fourth preventing the right-hander from facing the minimum over his final six frames.

"We pitched really well tonight," manager Craig Counsell said. "Our two back guys were just lights-out and Freddy was great tonight. He got locked in, and for seven innings he was just even and smooth and didn't get into trouble."

Here are three takeaways from the victory.

More:Willy Adames sidelined Monday by sprained ankle, an injury that could land him on the IL

Peralta is locked in

Following his performance Monday, Peralta is now 3-0 with a 1.57 earned run average over his last five starts. Opponents have managed a .138 average against him (no home runs), with Peralta striking out 38 against six walks over the span.

"Freddy's a good pitcher," Counsell said. "A couple of uneven starts at the beginning, but he's kind of reined in his breaking ball a little better here and that's kind of the equalizer – it makes his fastball better. His breaking ball has just been competitive a lot.

"His early starts, he missed by a pretty good margin with his breaking ball and kind of gave hitters some free pitches. But there's none of that anymore."

As is usually the case, Peralta's four-seamer carried him in this one – exactly half his 102 pitches were of that variety, and he generated seven of his game-high 16 swings and misses with it.

His slider (35) got seven more swings and misses, while his curveball (eight) and changeup (eight) each resulted in one.

Peralta said afterward he's been putting in "a lot of work" refining his slider even more under the watchful eye of pitching coach Chris Hook and Carlos Villanueva, and it's obviously been paying off of late.

"Omar (Narváez) saw that the slider was working really good, so we took the opportunity to use the slider and the fastball in the same way," Peralta said. "It was perfect."

After not striking a batter out in the first, Peralta fanned two in the second, third, fourth and seventh to finish with 10, his first double-digit performance since last June 22 and the sixth of his career.

He also reached 500 for his career by getting Ozuna looking to start the seventh.

"I had no idea," Peralta said with his trademark grin. "It's very special for me."

Strikeouts have been a theme for Milwaukee starters in general this season; Peralta's performance marked the seventh 10-plus strikeout game by the rotation, which is far and away the most in the major leagues.

No other team has more than three such games.

Bullpen bullied the Braves

Nursing a 1-0 lead that came courtesy of Hunter Renfroe's double and, two batters later, Ian Anderson's wild pitch, Williams entered and struck out the three hitters he faced with – wait for it – four-seam fastballs instead of changeups.

And his last one that retired former teammate Orlando Arcia registered at 96.8 mph.

Williams, who threw only 16 pitches, has said repeatedly that his fastball command is the key to his success. When he has that working along with his "Airbender" changeup, forget it.

"The league is trying to make an adjustment to Devin, which makes sense," Counsell said. "It shows Devin and shows all of us that the fastball is a key for him. It's kind of expected. We talk about it all the time. It's what the league requires players to do.

"He threw some good ones tonight in some good spots, so throwing that fastball where he wants is a big key for Devin, for sure."

Hader entered even more dialed in than Williams and mowed down the top of Atlanta's order on 15 pitches, 10 of which were four-seamers and nine of which checked in at 98.2 mph or faster.

His fastest offering was 99.1 and registered as the game's fifth-fastest pitch. Atlanta reliever Spencer Strider topped out at an even 100 and also had pitches of 99.9, 99.6 and 99.4.

"He's locked in," Counsell said of Hader. "The at-bat to (leadoff man Travis) Demeritte was a great example. He came in from the 'pen and threw four pitches exactly where he wanted them at big velocity.

"There's a not a lot a hitter can do with those pitches. You can take a swing, you know they're coming, but at that velocity and where he's putting them in the strike zone, they're really hard to hit."

Hader has 14 saves in 14 appearances, extending his major-league record.

He also has converted 28 straight dating to last July 7 and has posted 35 consecutive scoreless appearances covering 33⅔ innings. The 35 and 33⅔ are the longest active streaks in the majors.

More injury updates coming Tuesday

Andrew McCutchen was in the clubhouse following Monday's game and was all smiles.

He tweeted during the game that he'd been cleared by doctors to return from the COVID-19 injured list, although he won't be reinstated until sometime before Tuesday's game.

"He's cleared," Counsell confirmed. "We'll see what's going on tomorrow."

On the other end of the spectrum was shortstop Willy Adames, who missed his first game of the season with a sprained left ankle and appeared pretty dejected sitting at his locker following the game.

He was scheduled to meet with doctors later Monday afternoon, but after the game there wasn't much clarity regarding his situation.

"I've got nothing on Willy right now," Counsell said.

Luis Urías, who started in place of Adames at shortstop, had a pair of singles and a walk. He's reached base in every game (12) since being reinstated from the injured list May 2.

Right-hander Jandel Gustave, meanwhile, is expected to miss about six weeks with a strained right hamstring, according to Counsell.

He was placed on the IL before the game with left-hander Brent Suter being reinstated from the paternity list.