MILWAUKEE -- The way things started for the Rays on Monday night, it seemed like a frustratingly familiar outcome was in store.

They loaded the bases before Brewers starter Bryse Wilson could record an out, but managed just one run on a double-play grounder off the bat of Isaac Paredes. Another golden opportunity came and went, and the Rays’ offensive struggles continued.

They just didn’t matter with the way Ryan Pepiot was pitching.

Pepiot put together another impressive start for Tampa Bay in the club’s series opener against the Brewers at American Family Field, permitting only two hits while striking out seven over six excellent innings, and the Rays’ lone run in the first inning turned out to be enough in a 1-0 win that snapped their three-game losing streak.

“We needed Ryan Pepiot, and we needed good pitching,” manager Kevin Cash said after Tampa Bay’s second shutout of the season. “And we got it.”

Pepiot has pitched six innings in four of his past five outings, including each of his past three. He has allowed no more than one run in any of those starts. He has put together three straight quality starts for the first time in his young career.

“That's what we try to do here, is throw strike one, get guys out as fast as possible and go as deep as possible into ballgames,” Pepiot said.

The right-hander needed to be on top of his game Monday night, given the lack of run support, and he was. His velocity was up a tick across the board, with his fastball averaging 95.3 mph. Cash joked that Pepiot may have been amped up to pitch in front of the 15-20 family members and old college teammates who made the trip from his native Indianapolis to sit behind the Rays’ dugout and cheer on every strikeout.

The right-hander pounded the strike zone with everything in his arsenal and retired 14 batters in a row between William Contreras’ first-inning single and Joey Ortiz’s sixth-inning double.

The Brewers put 13 balls in play against Pepiot, and only three of them registered as hard-hit, according to Statcast. Opponents entered the night hitting just .089 (4-for-45) with 18 strikeouts against Pepiot’s fastball, and it was effective again this time out. The Brewers whiffed on nine of their 17 swings and couldn’t produce a hard-hit ball -- much less a hit -- against his heater.

“He’s really good. His fastball has lift. I don't know the numbers, but the fastball has tremendous lift,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “All the credit to Pepiot. He was brilliant tonight. We didn't have a great approach, but a lot of times a [not] great approach is due to a pitcher being great.”

Pepiot finished strong, too. With a one-run lead and Ortiz on second base, he knew he had to minimize the damage. It wasn’t easy, but he did exactly that.

Pepiot won an 11-pitch battle to strike out Jackson Chourio, finishing the at-bat with a 95.8 mph fastball. He then retired Sal Frelick and, after a wild pitch advanced the tying run to third base, got Contreras to hit into an inning-ending groundout.

“That takes a lot out of pitchers, to go through that kind of grind of an at-bat, and you wonder how he's gonna respond the next at-bat,” said Cash, who is one win shy of tying Joe Maddon as the winningest manager in franchise history with 754. “That showed a lot. He was able to kind of catch his breath and keep his composure throughout that.”

The Rays’ injury-depleted bullpen handled the final three innings, albeit not without some high-intensity drama. After Shawn Armstrong handled the seventh and Kevin Kelly breezed through the eighth, Jason Adam survived a wild ninth to secure his first save of the season.

Frelick led off the inning with a double, then Contreras hammered a line drive to right that Richie Palacios nabbed for the first out. Willy Adames walked, then he and Frelick pulled off a double-steal. Adam then struck out Jake Bauers, but it appeared for a moment that Frelick would score as Adam’s slider skipped past catcher René Pinto.

Adam briefly hustled toward the plate, but umpire Ryan Additon had already called interference because Bauers’ backswing hit Pinto in the helmet, which meant the runners could not advance. With what he called an “immediate sense of relief,” Adam collected himself, hit Rhys Hoskins to load the bases then struck out Blake Perkins to escape unscathed.

“That was a big win for the team,” Adam said. “That's what we do when we're playing good ball. We win blowouts, and we win close games. So I think I'm hopeful and optimistic that it's a sign of things to come.”