The Brewer offense that crushed the Washington Nationals over the weekend didn’t make the trip south to Atlanta, at least on Monday night. But this Milwaukee team showed that it can win in more than one fashion, as Quinn Priester set aside one very early blemish to pitch a brisk, fantastic game. And while the offense managed only three hits against a bevy of Braves pitchers led by starter Erick Fedde, the newly crowned National League Rookie of the Month, Isaac Collins, came through with the one big hit the Brewers needed to win this one.

Brice Turang got the Brewers’ night started with a successful drag bunt for a hit. But William Contreras flew out to right and Andrew Vaughn grounded into a double play, and–in what came as almost a surprise–the Brewers failed to capitalize on their leadoff baserunner.

Atlanta then pounced immediately, as Jurickson Profar jumped on Priester’s very first pitch and hit a no doubt homer to right. On Priester’s second pitch, Matt Olson grounded out to Turang at second. Priester got ahead of the three-hole hitter, Drake Baldwin, 0-2, but he yanked a sinker and hit Baldwin with the next pitch and Atlanta had a runner on first with one out. Sean Murphy got ahead 3-1 but Priester got a friendly call on a 3-1 sinker at the bottom of the zone (it was a strike, but could easily have been called a ball) and struck Murphy out with the next pitch. A few pitches later, Michael Harris II then popped out to short, and the first inning ended with Atlanta ahead 1-0.

A light drizzle started to fall in the top of the second, and the Brewers got a one-out baserunner when Collins worked a walk. But he didn’t advance past first, and the Braves took their lead into the bottom of the second.

Ozzie Albies tried to recreate Profar’s first-pitch homer in the second inning and hit one pretty well to right, but he didn’t quite get all of it and it was instead the first out. Eli White also hit one pretty deep but Blake Perkins caught it at the edge of the warning track. Nacho Alvarez Jr. also went after the pitch and hit a blooper behind second base that Ortiz dove for but couldn’t quite catch while diving backward, and Alvarez never slowed down around first and had a hustle double. But Nick Allen popped out to shallow right and the two-out double didn’t hurt Priester.

Brandon Lockridge was robbed of an infield hit when he led off the third with a chopper to the left side of the infield that Alvarez made a nice barehanded play on. Ortiz grounded out on the first pitch he saw, and Turang got ahead 3-0 but ended up lining out softly to third base to end the inning.

Profar walked on four pitches to start the bottom of the third, but Olson struck out, Baldwin flew out to deep left center, and Murphy grounded into a fielder’s choice that ended the inning.

Contreras reached to give the Brewers a leadoff baserunner of their own when he was hit by a 3-2 pitch (tough way to take a walk). Vaughn hit a ground ball in the hole and just beat it out at first–he was called out, Milwaukee challenged, and the call was reversed, and the Brewers were in business with runners on first and second with nobody out. Christian Yelich hit a soft grounder to Albies at second–he tagged second base to get Vaughn out but didn’t even bother making a throw to first, and Collins had a prime opportunity to tie the game with runners on the corners and one out. Collins didn’t tie the game, though. He worked Fedde to a 3-2 count and instead whacked a three-run homer into the right on a sweeper that hung right down the middle.

Fedde got Perkins and Anthony Seigler out to end the inning, but Atlanta now had a hole to dig out of. They didn’t do it in the bottom of the fourth; Priester needed just six pitches to record his first three-up, three-down inning of the evening as he got groundouts from Harris, Albies, and White, with an assist from a great play by Turang on Albies’ grounder.

Fedde had a 1-2-3 inning of his own in the top of the fifth. Priester got the first two in the bottom of the inning but again walked Profar before ending the inning on an Olson groundout.

Contreras drew a walk to start the sixth, which prompted a visit from the Atlanta dugout. But he got Vaughn to fly out to center before Braves manager Brian Snitker called down to the bullpen for lefty Aaron Bummer with Yelich coming up. Yelich made solid contact but flew out to Profar in left. Collins reached for the third time in the game when a Bummer curveball hit him on the back knee, but Perkins grounded out to Albies and the inning ended with the score holding at 3-1.

Priester had another ultra-efficient inning in the bottom of the sixth, with three more groundouts on just seven pitches. After a somewhat shaky start, Priester was through six with just two hits and one run allowed on just 76 pitches.

Bummer kept going in the top of the seventh and had no trouble, getting pinch-hitter Caleb Durbin, Brandon Lockridge, and Joey Ortiz in order. Priester was also back out in the seventh, and he again shut the Braves down in order with a groundout, a strikeout, and a flyout. That was the end of the night for Priester, who twirled a gem: he finished with two hits, one run, two walks, and four strikeouts in seven innings; he tossed seven shutout innings after the first pitch he threw.

Daysbel Hernández replaced Bummer in the eighth and started with a strikeout of Turang. Contreras drew another walk with one out, but with a 3-2 count on Vaughn, Contreras was picked off. Unfortunate, as Vaughn walked one pitch later, but instead of two on and one out, it was one on and two outs. Yelich grounded out to first and the inning ended.

Abner Uribe was the first pitcher out of Milwaukee’s bullpen tonight and he did what you’re not supposed to do and walked the leadoff hitter, pinch-hitter Marcell Ozuna. Ozuna was replaced by pinch-runner Luke Williams and Profar, whose leadoff home run was Priester’s only blemish, came to the plate. Uribe got Profar looking on a perfect 2-2 sinker, but Olson yanked a single into right field and put runners on the corners with one out.

Baldwin jumped on the first pitch from Uribe and hit a solid line drive, but Ortiz was positioned in exactly the right spot and snagged it for the second out. With two outs, Murphy connected on one and crushed it to deep center field, but it held up, and Perkins caught it on the warning track, 388 feet from the plate. It was not comfortable, but Uribe got the game to the ninth with the lead unharmed.

The Brewers came into the ninth looking for an insurance run for two against the lefty Dylan Dodd as Trevor Megill warmed in the bullpen. But Dodd did his job with a flyout from Collins, a groundout by Perkins, and another flyout from Durbin.

Luckily, Megill did not need the insurance. Harris went after the first pitch he saw and flew out to Perkins, and Albies took two curveballs for strikes before swinging and missing at a 101 mph fastball above the zone. White grounded out to third on an 0-2 pitch, and the game was over. Real closer stuff from Megill, who slammed the door in Atlanta’s face.

The Brewers managed only three hits in this game and scored in only one inning, but that was all the pitching staff needed. Those hits belonged to Turang, Vaughn, and, of course, Collins, who turned in the game’s biggest moment. But this one belonged to the pitching staff, who were literally one pitch short of a shutout. Priester moved to 11-2 on the season with the win, and Uribe and Megill added a hold and a save, respectively.

This series continues Tuesday evening with another 6:15 p.m. start, when Freddy Peralta takes on Joey Wentz.