CINCINNATI -- Orlando Arcia got a big hit. Josh Hader threw something other than a fastball. And while those were brand-new developments for the Brewers, the result was the same -- another victory for a team that is picking up where it left off last season.

Arcia’s season-opening slump extended to 0-for-16 before he hit a go-ahead three-run homer in the sixth inning that proved to be the difference in a 4-3 win over the Reds on Tuesday at Great American Ball Park. When Hader -- pitching for the second straight day and fourth time in six days -- closed it out, the Brewers were 5-1 to start the season.

“It was worth the wait,” manager Craig Counsell said of Arcia's first hit.

Going into the game, Counsell had his fingers crossed for a blooper or a broken-bat hit for his slumping shortstop. Arcia delivered a big fly instead.

With two fruitless at-bats already in the books Tuesday, Arcia stepped to the plate with two outs and two runners aboard in the sixth. The Reds replaced left-hander Zach Duke with right-hander Michael Lorenzen, who fell into a 1-0 count on a borderline curveball before feeding Arcia a cutter he could handle. The baseball flew to the opposite field and just cleared the fence for a 4-1 lead.

“For anybody in this world, you want the first hit,” Counsell said prior to the game. “Anything. You just want the first hit. He just has to keep putting together at-bats, and he’ll get one.”

Six innings into the game, Arcia got one.

“We’ve been working hard every day, and thankfully, the first one came,” Arcia said through translator Carlos Brizuela. “You just have to keep your head strong. That’s part of the game. If you start tying up, things aren’t going to go your way. Once the first one falls, you know they’re going to start falling.”

“A guy who chases, got a base open, you don’t have to throw him a strike,” said Lorenzen. “Let him get himself out. And you throw a cutter middle in when it’s supposed to be middle away. You don’t execute and he makes you pay for it. … I have to get better.”

The Brewers rely on Arcia mostly for defense, and he is indeed one of baseball’s best shortstops. But even the game’s top defensive wizards need to hit a little bit, which Arcia learned late last June when he was demoted to Triple-A Colorado Springs with a .482 OPS. He returned in late July and finished the year strong, putting together a 16-game hitting streak to close the regular season and postseason. Arcia hit .373 in that stretch with three homers, offering hope of a better offensive season ahead.

Until Tuesday, it hadn’t happened yet.

“I think every player on the team feels like they’ve got to perform,” Counsell said. “He isn’t in any different spot. He will. He will."

Hader, meanwhile, continued to thrive for the Brewers, taking over in the ninth with a one-run lead and promptly throwing a 47th consecutive fastball to start the season before finally throwing an offspeed pitch -- a changeup -- to Jose Iglesias. He threw a slider later in the at-bat and Iglesias ultimately worked a walk, so Hader resumed firing fastballs and ended the game by retiring three straight hitters, including a pair of strikeouts.

“He was adamant, 'Hey, I feel really good today,'" Counsell said of his closer. “So we put him back out there. We’ve used him a little differently in the first week of the season. Not by plan; kind of by circumstance here. He’s done a good job.”

Four of the Brewers’ five wins this season have been one-run games. The other was a two-run victory.

Last season, the Brewers came up with a unique usage pattern that maximized Hader’s gifts, typically involving multi-inning stints with multiple days of rest. It added up to 81 1/3 innings and 143 strikeouts, setting an all-time record for whiffs by a left-handed reliever. The plan at the start of Spring Training was to do it all over again, but that changed when Jeremy Jeffress and Corey Knebel landed on the injured list, especially with Knebel lost for the season to Tommy John surgery.

“I think it’s just finding that routine that’s best for me,” Hader said. “Even when I got called up in 2017, and really figuring out that bullpen role and how to get myself … ready to get out there, and the recovery as well. Communicating is the biggest thing.”

Would Counsell pitch Hader a third straight day when the Brewers go for a sweep if circumstances call for it?

“I wouldn’t tell you no,” Counsell said.