ATLANTA -- Nothing the Brewers do this weekend at Truist Park, Christian Yelich was saying the other day, will erase the Braves’ triumph over them in last year’s National League Division Series. But a new season means a clean slate between these historically-linked franchises, and the Brewers started things by scoring as many runs in Friday’s 6-3 win as they did in all four games of last year’s NLDS.

And coming off the most power-packed homestand in franchise history, the Brewers proved they can win other ways as well.

“Everything is not going to be pretty all the time,” center fielder Lorenzo Cain said. “That was the case tonight.”

Cain dashed down the first-base line to extend a tie-breaking sixth inning in which the Brewers scored four runs on four walks, two infield singles, a fielder’s choice, an error and a ton of hustle for a series-opening win.

It was quite a change from recent victories. They hit 20 home runs while winning five of six against the Cubs and Reds over the past week -- not only a record for a six-game homestand, but for any six-game stretch in club history.

When they won again Friday playing small ball, the Brewers had taken nine of their past 10 games, 15 of their past 18 and 18 of 23.

“It was a different way to score runs today but it all counts, and you need that to be a consistent team,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said.

The Braves, meanwhile, fell to a disappointing 12-16 to begin their title defense, though they got a memorable home run from Ronald Acuña Jr. He fell down while hitting a 450-foot blast off Brewers starter Eric Lauer for Acuña’s first homer since suffering a season-ending knee injury last July.

It was a rare blemish for Lauer, who pitched into the seventh inning, allowed two runs (one earned), notched eight more strikeouts and ended the night with a 1.82 ERA.

Lauer, Brad Boxberger, Jandel Gustave and Josh Hader (11th save) held the vaunted Atlanta lineup to three hits.

“Every team can have stretches like this, and it doesn’t surprise you,” Counsell said of the Braves. “They’ve had some starting pitching injuries and issues, it looks like. Obviously, getting Acuña back is a huge deal for them. When you look at the team, the first thing I see is it’s just a very well-rounded team. It’s a good offensive team. It’s a good defensive team. There’s a good bullpen down there. There’s really good starters. They have a lot of ways to beat you and they’re going to win a lot of games.”

The Brewers knew, Yelich said back in Spring Training, that the Braves presented a particularly stiff test in last year’s best-of-five NLDS.

"I wouldn't say that we were that surprised that they won it all,” Yelich said in March. “Before that series started, we were talking that that was probably going to be one of our tougher series in the playoffs just because [of] the talent, the pitching that they have. When everyone was talking about how we didn't score any runs and how we couldn't hit, it was like, ‘Well, nobody did.’ …

“After we lost, we were talking, like, ‘Hey, I wouldn't be shocked if that team won the World Series.’ Sure enough, they did.”

The Brewers won the first matchup of the two teams in 2022, and Cain was all over the highlight reel, for good and bad. In the fourth, he surprised everyone by running down a shallow fly ball that looked like it would be a hit, then fired a throw to the wrong base for an error that led to an unearned run.

The baseball gods gave Cain a chance to atone immediately, and he did just that, catching a one-out fly ball and firing a perfect throw to third base for a double play, although a run scored ahead of the out at third to tie the game at 2.

And in the sixth, Cain hustled down the line to avoid an inning-ending double play for a go-ahead fielder’s choice that kept the frame alive for the Brewers to keep scoring. A Willy Adames walk with the bases loaded and his subsequent hustle to second helped produce three more runs for a 6-2 lead.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been so confused in my life after catching a ball and then just seeing a lot of bodies moving,” Cain said. “I didn’t know where to go. I don’t know what I saw at first. Rowdy [Tellez] was definitely not there. We were able to keep it at one run there, so I appreciate the guys picking me up.”

He said, “We showed up, we put up just enough and the pitching was outstanding once again.”