Pat Murphy’s message to the Brewers clubhouse before Game 1 of the NLDS was simple: be ready.

“We talked during the week. One of the things we made a point of, or maybe the main thing we talked about, is, ‘Promise me you’ll be ready the first pitch,'” he recalled. “When the bell rings, you’re ready. You don’t get a couple rounds to figure out whether or not you want to fight. Be ready in the first round.”

That would be pertinent advice in any situation, but especially so on Saturday afternoon. The Brewers, returning to action after a five-day bye, could not ease back into a game against the Chicago Cubs, who disposed of the San Diego Padres on Thursday and can counter many of Milwaukee’s strengths. Michael Busch‘s home run on Freddy Peralta‘s fourth pitch of the game rudely reaffirmed that reality. Their patient offense needed to respond against Matthew Boyd, one of baseball’s best strike-throwers.

Boyd finished the regular season with the 13th-lowest walk rate and the third-highest zone rate among qualified starters. The Brewers, meanwhile, finished a second straight season with baseball’s lowest swing rate, including the lowest on first pitches. Craig Counsell remarked the day before that their hitters “don’t swing much” under Murphy’s orders.

Murphy wasn’t having that notion on Saturday morning.

“(Counsell) didn’t finish that,” he quipped. “I tell them, ‘Don’t swing, jump in front of it. Try to get hit by a pitch.’ When I was a bench coach, he didn’t like that. … But we’re not going to just sit and take. It’s not what we do. We might take more than others because we’ve got young guys and it takes them a few pitches to get adjusted.”

A few hours later, his hitters came out swinging against Boyd, so much so that they bounced him from the game two outs into the first inning. After leadoff man Jackson Chourio took a 2-0 called strike, the Brewers swung at each of his next 12 in-zone pitches before his exit, including three straight doubles on as many pitches to kick off a six-run frame.

“We came in with an approach,” said Blake Perkins, whose RBI single after an 11-pitch at-bat ended Boyd’s day. “As you guys saw, it was very aggressive.”

It was perhaps the offense’s most active start to a game all year. Between Boyd and Michael Soroka, the Brewers offered at 16 in-zone pitches in the first inning, more than in any of their regular-season games.

“We hit some balls where they weren’t, and we were ready,” Murphy said. “I loved the at-bats early.”

That hot start put the Brewers in a favorable position the rest of the afternoon. Freddy Peralta, pitching with an eight-run lead for much of the day, worked into the sixth inning. Murphy could stay away from Abner Uribe in the series opener, using Aaron Ashby, Jared Koenig, and Nick Mears for outings of 20 pitches or fewer to close it out.

A five-game series isn’t won in Game 1, but outside of Jackson Chourio’s hopefully minor hamstring injury, the Brewers couldn’t find themselves in a much better position. An early punch in the mouth put Chicago on the defensive. It also helped Milwaukee keep its bullpen relatively fresh, while the Cubs are still reeling a bit from emptying their relief corps last week.

The next task is taking advantage of that position. The Brewers can’t let up, especially against a team that can frustrate lineups by playing excellent defense and slugs more than Murphy’s woodpeckers.

“We know what we’re trying to accomplish, and we’re going to focus on doing that and focus on ourselves,” said Brice Turang. “It’s just taking that energy and, however you do it, taking it and moving it on to the next day.”