MILWAUKEE -- Ryan Braun and Keston Hiura homered, Yasmani Grandal delivered a go-ahead single in the fifth inning, Josh Hader worked two electric innings of relief and Freddy Peralta converted his first career save opportunity for a 5-4 Brewers win over the Reds on Wednesday afternoon that required contributions from all over the roster.

Now bring on the Cubs.

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Chicago comes to Miller Park next for three games beginning Friday with significant implications for not only the National League Central -- the third-place Brewers are two games back of the first-place Cubs -- but also the Brewers’ strategy at next week’s Trade Deadline. Jhoulys Chacin’s early exit Wednesday with right rib cage discomfort and Peralta’s first call to close out a game only emphasized the need for pitching, but so far, Milwaukee’s only outside addition has been Gio Gonzalez back in April. He’s scheduled to start Friday’s series opener.

“It’s a big series this weekend, no question,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “There are still [58] games left, so we’re not down to the wire, but it’s an important series, for sure. It’s against the team that’s ahead of us. We want to keep ourselves right there.”

Milwaukee will get through Chicago before making decisions about filling out a depleted starting rotation that was already without Brandon Woodruff (left oblique) before struggling Opening Day starter Chacin went down Wednesday with a similar injury on the opposite side. Chacin remained winless in a 12th consecutive start after falling into deficits of 2-0 in the first inning and 4-2 in the third before leaving the game.

Braun briefly tied it with a two-run homer in the first inning and Hiura sparked a three-run fifth with his 10th home run in his 40th career game. In Brewers history, only Braun (38 games in 2007) got to 10 homers faster. Grandal capped the rally by grounding a two-run single to left field for the lead.

It was a bullpen game by then, and Alex Claudio, Matt Albers, Junior Guerra, Hader and Peralta closed it out for Milwaukee, with Hader striking out five hitters in the heart of Cincinnati’s order, before Peralta pitched a perfect ninth for his first career save in his fifth straight scoreless relief appearance. Teammates doused him with beer and milk in a clubhouse celebration.

“It’s kind of been floating in my head for a couple of weeks now, really,” said Counsell. “Really, for games just like this. It made sense for Josh to be in the game earlier today [against a run of Reds left-handed hitters]. Freddy was fresh today, and I think we’ve seen the way he’s thrown the ball in the bullpen, gaining confidence in these shorter stints.”

Counsell added, “The stuff, it fits in the ninth inning. I think it gives us some options.”

Peralta will pitch out of the ‘pen “for sure” against the Cubs over the weekend, Counsell said. The Brewers are deploying their only three remaining healthy starters: Gonzalez, Chase Anderson and Zach Davies. Off-days on either side of the series, plus the fact that Milwaukee ended Hader’s outing at 30 pitches, means the Brew Crew will go into the weekend with a relatively rested bullpen and an aggressive mindset toward pitching decisions.

Wednesday’s decision was a matter of lineup management, Counsell said. When Guerra cleared a clean sixth inning with a 5-4 lead, it meant three of the next four scheduled Cincinnati hitters were left-handed beginning with the seventh. So Counsell went to Hader, who wound up striking out five of the seven batters that he faced before Peralta took the ninth.

“I know the position the team was in that moment,” Peralta said. “That was a really good moment for me. It was an exciting moment, too, for me. It’s like a gift, is how I feel right now. I think I’m going to call my mom after this.”

She watches all of the games at home in the Dominican Republic and will be watching this weekend when Peralta and the Brewers host the Cubs.

“The Cubs and the Brewers, we always have a really good series,” Peralta said. “We’re going to win this one.”

The teams have split their first six matchups this season, each club winning two of three games at home. Even the run differential is relatively even, at plus-2 for Milwaukee.

“As long as I’ve been with the Brewers’ organization, I’ve known how competitive, how fun, how exciting the series between the Brewers and Cubs have been,” said Hiura, who was still in the Minors when the teams last met in May. “So I’m looking forward to it.”