MILWAUKEE -- Jurickson Profar was the first Rockies batter to dig in against Freddy Peralta on Monday night, and he went down swinging.

There would be a lot more of that.

Ezequiel Tovar was next, and he hit a home run.

There would be no more of that.

The Brewers came within one pitch of throwing a perfect game in a 12-1 win at American Family Field, with Peralta allowing that lone hit and nothing else while matching his career high of 13 strikeouts over a season-high seven innings.

Relievers Elvis Peguero and Andrew Chafin combined with Peralta on a 28-batter pitching clinic while rookie Sal Frelick delivered another monster night at the plate and Milwaukee stayed 1 1/2 games ahead of the Cincinnati Reds for the National League Central lead.

“That was as well-pitched a game as we’ve had this year, for sure,” said Brewers manager Craig Counsell.

It marked the third time in franchise history that the Brewers yielded only one baserunner in a game.

The most recent occurrence was Corbin Burnes’ and Josh Hader’s combined no-hitter in Cleveland on Sept. 11, 2021, when Burnes’ seventh-inning walk was the lone blemish.

Before that, there was Brandon Woodruff and Matt Albers throwing a one-hitter against the Phillies on May 26, 2019. The only baserunner that day touched them all; Philadelphia catcher Andrew Knapp homered off Woodruff in the sixth.

Peralta, who now has 10 career starts of at least five innings with one or no hits, will continue to chase that elusive no-hitter.

“I don’t know when it’s going to happen,” Peralta said, “but I’m waiting for that moment.”

Five years after he announced his arrival in Major League Baseball with a 13-strikeout gem against the Rockies at Coors Field, Peralta has matched that mark twice in his past three starts.

He struck out 13 Reds on July 26 while working six scoreless innings, then delivered a quality start in a win at Washington last week before returning home and inducing 31 swings and misses against the Rockies on Monday -- the most whiffs for a Brewers pitcher, according to Statcast, which has pitch-tracking data as far back as 2008.

"What was fun for me was I knew that I had a lot of strikeouts today, but I had no idea about how many,” Peralta said. “When I finished, ‘Big Woo’ [Woodruff] came in and he told me, ‘You can only strike out 13?’

“I didn’t know that. I had no idea. I wished I could get another one to break my own record, but it was fun. And everyone knows that I love the strikeouts.”

Before Peralta, the Brewers record was 30 swings and misses against Burnes on Aug. 11, 2021. That was the night he matched the Major League record by striking out 10 consecutive batters during one stretch of a victory over the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

Peralta looked like he might give that record a run when he struck out five consecutive Rockies in the second and third innings, all swinging. Overall, 11 of Peralta’s 13 strikeouts were of the swinging variety.

“Guys were frustrated, especially the younger fellows,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “You guys saw the look on their faces. They’re exasperated. But this is baptism under fire for these guys.”

Said Rockies left fielder Nolan Jones, a strikeout victim both times up against Peralta: “I tried to be early and was still late. Not much I could do there."

Brice Turang, starting for the Brewers at shortstop in place of the slumping Willy Adames, provided Peralta a lead with a two-out, two-run home run for Milwaukee’s first hit off Rockies starter Peter Lambert in the fourth inning.

It sparked a five-run inning and a string of clutch at-bats, the likes of which had eluded Milwaukee since a 14-run outburst against the Pirates to start this homestand.

Turang’s homer scored Frelick, who made his first career start in center field and remained an on-base machine. He reached safely four more times, scored three runs and drove in four, including a three-run home run in the eighth inning that pushed even higher his video game numbers at home.

In his first 39 career plate appearances at American Family Field, Frelick has 10 hits, including three home runs, 10 walks and two sacrifice flies, including a game-winner and a hit-by-pitch to boot.

He was struck in the right knee his first time up Monday but stayed in the game and declared postgame that he would be “fine.”

Frelick has 15 RBIs in his first 16 career games, a Brewers record. He beat Paul Molitor’s 19 games, and you probably know how that turned out.

“Once it gets rolling, a couple two-out hits there … it’s just contagious,” Frelick said. “Everyone wants a part of it. You get a good start from your starter, too. It’s all contagious. Once that ball got rolling, it didn’t stop.”