MILWAUKEE -- The way general manager Matt Arnold viewed it, there were two good reasons for the Brewers to employ an “opener” strategy for the first time this season on Wednesday, when they summoned ascendant reliever Trevor Megill from the bullpen at the start of a 2-0 loss to the Marlins at American Family Field.

“We’re looking at it from a rest standpoint,” Arnold told a Bally Sports Wisconsin audience in the middle innings. “But we’re also looking to get these guys into big games.

“These games still matter. We don’t have anything locked up.”

• Games remaining: vs. MIA (1), vs. WAS (3), at STL (4), at MIA (3), vs. STL (3), vs. CHC (3)
• Standings update: The Brewers (81-64) hold a four-game lead in the National League Central over the Cubs (78-69), who lost to the Rockies at Coors Field on Wednesday for the second straight game. Milwaukee is the third-best division leader, meaning it would host a best-of-three NL Wild Card Series against the final Wild Card entrant starting on Oct. 3.
• Magic number: The Brewers' magic number over the Cubs is 13 to clinch the NL Central.

A Cubs loss earlier in the day presented the Brewers a chance to gain another game of separation atop the National League Central while simultaneously executing an ongoing plan to give the club’s best starting pitchers an extra day of rest, but a Milwaukee offense missing Christian Yelich (back) and on-base machine Mark Canha (left wrist) didn’t cooperate. Miami left-hander Braxton Garrett pitched through the end of the sixth and three relievers followed with a scoreless inning apiece.

The Brewers remained in a solid position at the end of a day that began with their playoff chances, according to FanGraphs’ calculations, at a season-high 99.8 percent, and their odds to win the division at 93.5 percent. Those projections are just for fun, however, and the Brewers know they must continue to win real games in order to qualify for the postseason after their four-year streak was snapped a season ago.

To that end, they are simultaneously acting like a team in strong position while setting themselves up as best as possible to play into October, and in the view of Arnold, manager Craig Counsell and pitching coach Chris Hook, that involves maximizing every opportunity for rest.

So, even with right-hander Adrian Houser eligible and ready to come off the injured list, the Brewers pushed Houser’s scheduled return to Thursday’s series finale against the Marlins -- which in turn pushed left-hander Wade Miley to Friday against the Nationals on an extra day of rest, which in turn did the same for Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff after that -- and employed the opener strategy on Wednesday night in front of regular “starter” Colin Rea.

Generally speaking, the idea of an opener is to have a fresh relief arm handle the top of an opponents’ order to start the game before bringing in a bulk arm behind him, which delays until deeper into the game the point at which that pitcher will have to navigate a third time through the order. 

“It’s a lot different,” said Megill. “I’m used to coming in the later innings when guys are more aggressive. Today, it was a lot more patient at-bats and just a different feeling. Me and Hoby [Milner] were joking about how cool it would be to ‘open,’ literally yesterday in the first inning, because [the Marlins] did it yesterday. To get that message from Craig last night was exciting.”

It was Megill’s first start since college, and essentially, it went according to plan. He came out firing with a 100.4 mph fastball to start a scoreless first inning before Rea worked 4 2/3 innings, allowing one run in the fifth inning after a bit of a lucky break. Brewers first baseman Carlos Santana’s momentum took him down the dugout steps and, by rule, gave Miami’s runner at first base at the time a free trip to second. That put Jesús Sanchez in scoring position for Garrett Hampson’s two-out, RBI single.

An inning later, the Marlins tacked on a run charged to Rae’s replacement, left-hander Andrew Chafin. But still, the game was within reach at 2-0. Brewers hitters simply never got anything going despite putting the leadoff hitter on base six times.  

So, the Brewers settled for a lower magic number to clinch the division, and a little extra rest for their primary starters. With Rea and Houser as extra arms capable of delivering length, and Julio Teheran and even left-handed prospect Robert Gasser starting in the Minors and ready if needed, the Brewers have flexibility to line up the rotation any way they’d like for a potentially pivotal three-game series against the Cubs to finish the regular season, or for the postseason.

“It’s something that’s on our mind,” Arnold said. “We want to be cautious with this group. We want to have this group locked in and in a good spot for the postseason if we’re able to get in there. We’re trending in that direction. But certainly, we’re making sure that these guys are rested and in a good spot heading in there is big.”