ST. PETERSBURG -- Willy Adames celebrated the two-year anniversary of his trade from Tampa Bay to Milwaukee with a home run -- punctuated with a playful homage to one of his favorite former teammates.

Adames crossed his arms and shrugged a la Rays star Randy Arozarena, who laughed in left field as the two pointed in each other’s direction during the second inning of the Brewers’ 6-4 win over the Rays on Sunday at Tropicana Field.

This was no spur of the moment tribute.

“Oh no, I told him before,” Adames said. “The first day I got here I said, ‘If I hit a homer, I’m doing it.’ I looked at him when I was running [around the bases] and he was waiting for it.”

Said Arozarena: “He had said earlier today that he was going to hit a home run and that he was going to do the pose, and I didn't believe him. But obviously he hit a home run and he did the pose.”

For Adames and the Brewers, it was good to laugh a little. Milwaukee went into Sunday’s finale trying to avoid a sweep, and Adames entered the day with three hits in his last 25 at-bats, none of them home runs. That changed when he took Rays opener Jalen Beeks deep before Rowdy Tellez and William Contreras added two-run homers off Cooper Criswell in a game the Brewers never trailed.

Devin Williams worked overtime for the second time to finish a 2-4 road trip for the Brewers, who headed back home atop the National League Central. The schedule doesn’t relent; after losing two of three at the hottest team in baseball (the Cardinals) and then losing two of three against the team with the most wins and best run differential in baseball (the Rays, who are 21-4 at home), the Brewers host the reigning World Series champion Astros in Milwaukee for the first time since 2019 beginning Monday.

It was a fitting day for Adames to break through; on May 21, 2021, the Rays traded Adames and reliever Trevor Richards to the Brewers for pitchers Drew Rasmussen and J.P. Feyereisen, and his recent slump notwithstanding, Adames has been the Brewers’ most productive hitter since then, leading the team in home runs, RBIs, hits, doubles, walks, runs and games played – including all 46 games so far in 2023.

Then there are all of the things that don’t show up on the stat sheet. Adames’ arrival in 2021 coincided with the Brewers’ transformation from two games under .500 on the day of the trade into a 95-win division champion. In both ‘21 and ‘22, Adames was voted club MVP.

“This game,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said, “almost encourages you to live on a rollercoaster and encourages ups and downs because you get results thrown at you every single day, and we love to be around people that don't get affected by it. And that's what Willy's really good at. That smile that we see every day is a reason to feel good. And no matter what's going on, that's important.

“We certainly need offense from Willy. He's scuffled a little bit over the last couple weeks but he'll come out of it. He's a good hitter and he'll come out of it.”

Said Freddy Peralta after delivering a quality start: “You guys already know what he brings to everyone, to the team, to Milwaukee. It’s awesome to have him, and hopefully to keep him for a while.”

Adames said his return to The Trop was invigorating, including a visit inside the Rays’ clubhouse before Saturday’s game. On Sunday, the home run represented Adames’ only hit, but he hit two other balls hard in the air to center field. That’s progress, he believes.

The Brewers hope the same is true for Peralta, who rebounded from his worst start of the season against the Cardinals to work six innings against the Rays in a start marred by one misplaced slider, which Josh Lowe lined to the seats for a 3-3 tie in the fourth.

Contreras’ home run reclaimed the lead in the fifth and the Brewers held on, getting four high-pressure outs from Williams five days after he delivered five outs in the team’s only other win on the trip, in St. Louis. Williams’ jam when he entered in the eighth was made worse when he was assessed an automatic ball by plate umpire Nick Mahrley, but Williams escaped that threat, then got help in the ninth from Brian Anderson’s sensational barehanded play to take away a leadoff hit.

“To be honest, I thought he was going to be on first,” Williams said. “[Anderson] made the play and it was incredible.”

It was a happy end to Adames’ anniversary.

“It’s amazing,” Adames said. “It’s ironic that today was two years from when I was traded and I hit a homer today and we got the win and we’re going back home. It felt good. It doesn’t feel like it’s been two years. It feels like it was just yesterday.”