MILWAUKEE -- Owen Miller wasn’t sure if Alec Bohm was going to take the force out at third base or scoop up Miller's ground ball and throw him out at first.

The answer -- in a two-out, bases-loaded spot for the Brewers -- turned out to be neither.

“Once I heard the crowd get kind of loud there, I figured that it got by him,” Miller said.

And once Miller’s 85.2 mph ground ball -- which had a .230 expected batting average, per Statcast -- got under Bohm’s glove at third base, the Brewers were off to the races. The bases-clearing error in the eighth inning proved to be the difference in Milwaukee's 7-5 win over Philadelphia in Friday’s series opener at American Family Field.

• Games remaining: vs. PHI (2), at PIT (3), at NYY (3), vs. MIA (4), vs. WAS (3), at STL (4), at MIA (3), vs. STL (3), vs. CHC (3)

• Standings update: Brewers hold a 3 1/2-game lead over the Cubs atop the National League Central. With head-to-head records determining a potential tiebreaker, the clubs are tied 5-5 with three games remaining in the season series.

Miller’s grounder won’t go down as a hit in the scorebook, but it got the job done just as well.

“Obviously, you want to hit [in that spot],” manager Craig Counsell said. “But Owen’s a low strikeout guy. He put a ball in play, made them make a play and they didn’t make a play.”

It was a thrilling start to September for the Brewers, who entered the month leading the NL Central. The Phillies, meanwhile, came to town atop the NL Wild Card standings.

And the matchup of the two contenders didn’t disappoint. Miller's game-winning moment was just part of a wildly entertaining eighth inning.

“That felt like playoff baseball right there,” Miller said. “Two first-place teams going back and forth.”

Philadelphia scored four times in the top of the eighth. Milwaukee reliever Joel Payamps allowed a walk, two singles and a run to start the inning. Counsell went to closer Devin Williams with two outs, but Trea Turner welcomed him by tucking a go-ahead three-run homer inside the left-field foul pole.

The Brewers responded in the bottom half, with four of their first five hitters reaching base against lefty José Alvarado -- including Tyrone Taylor walking with the bases loaded to cut the deficit to 5-4. The Phillies brought in reliever Jeff Hoffman, who struck out Willy Adames for the second out of the inning.

That set the stage for Miller, whom the Brewers recalled from Triple-A Nashville earlier in the day with active rosters expanding to 28 players in September.

Miller, whose last game in the Majors was July 31, said he was just looking to put the ball in play and put pressure on the defense.

It worked. William Contreras scored from third to tie it and Carlos Santana scored from second to give Milwaukee the lead. Taylor came around from first on the error, diving in headfirst just ahead of the throw.

Taylor said his initial priority was getting to second to prevent a potential force out had Bohm fielded it cleanly. In fact, Taylor wasn’t aware the ball trickled into the outfield until he reached second.

“And then, when I saw that, it was just like, 'Keep running,'” Taylor said. “And if Laner [third-base coach Jason Lane] sends me, then go. He did, and I’m thankful I got in there.”

Williams worked a 1-2-3 ninth to close things out.

“Proud of Devin for coming out after a really long inning,” Counsell said. “He came out and had a really good inning.”

The eventful finish followed a dominant start by Freddy Peralta, who outdueled Phillies righty Zack Wheeler. Peralta struck out 10 while allowing just one run off two hits and zero walks over six innings.

The right-hander gave up a leadoff homer to Kyle Schwarber and a single to Jake Cave in the third inning. Peralta retired the final 11 hitters he faced in his latest dominant performance, lowering his second-half ERA to 2.38 in 53 innings over nine starts.

“He was so, so good,” Counsell said. “He just got in a rhythm, and it was like an effortless rhythm and a lot of execution. The fastball was really good, and everything was working. … Excellent effort.”

The Brewers’ resilience shined brightly on Friday on their way to a big comeback.

“There’s going to be different ways to win games,” Counsell said. “It’s not always the same. Tonight, we did it a little differently, but it’s a win.”