MILWAUKEE -- There are big series today, like the matchup of baseball’s Central division leaders that began with a 7-1 Brewers win over the White Sox on Friday at American Family Field.

And, the Brewers hope, even bigger series tomorrow. Say, in October.

Finding the proper balance has been priority No. 1 for manager Craig Counsell and the rest of Milwaukee’s decision makers since the day a team led by strong, young starting pitching reported for the first day of Spring Training. And it explains why Freddy Peralta’s first start of the second half, already delayed by design to give him a breather after an electric, three-strikeout inning in the All-Star Game, was set up ahead of time as a tandem with fellow right-hander Adrian Houser.

Don’t let the final score fool you -- the pitchers were the story for most of the night until the Brewers broke through with six runs in the seventh inning on four walks and only two hits, spurring Chicago manager Tony La Russa’s ejection, and later Sox shortstop Tim Anderson’s, too.

No. 8 hitter Tyrone Taylor delivered the biggest hit of the night when he connected against Ryan Burr for Milwaukee’s second grand slam this season to complete the six-run rally.

As far as the pitching plan, Counsell hinted coming out of the break that tandems were one of the possibilities the Brewers had in mind. Peralta’s career high for innings is 144 1/3 in 2018, if you add up his regular-season innings in the Majors and Minors that year, plus the postseason. In the pandemic-shortened '20, Peralta threw 30 1/3 combined innings in the regular season and postseason.

Including his 51 pitches over four scoreless innings against the White Sox -- leaving Peralta’s ERA at a sparkling 2.29 -- he has already thrown 102 regular-season innings in 2021 with two full months to go.

“I feel that it's something smart. A good, smart move that we're doing this,” Peralta said. “And I feel comfortable."

There’s no definitive right and wrong, Counsell has said. But the Brewers made the decision early on to err on the side of caution in terms of pitcher innings, and they are sticking with the strategy.

The current stretch of the schedule, with three open dates before the Brewers play their ninth game after the All-Star break, allows for some creativity.

“This is about getting seven months' worth,” Counsell said last week. “Every decision is kind of -- you balance that obviously every game is important, but I think getting them through seven months is really the most important thing to think about here.”

Going into Friday night, the Brewers were thinking three or four innings, 50-60 pitches for Peralta. He made the allotment count, stranding the bases loaded in a hard-fought, 20-pitch second inning. But he threw fewer than 15 pitches in each of his other three frames.

Peralta’s .129 opponents’ average is best among MLB’s qualifying pitchers by a wide margin. He ranks second in the Majors with a 35 percent strikeout rate, and he has the fourth-best ERA (2.29) and is tied for the third-best WHIP (0.89). His next start will be back to normal, Counsell said.

“We wanted to give him a break, but have him keep pitching and just make it a little less demanding,” Counsell said. “And, really, the same with Adrian.”

Rowdy Tellez tallied two hits and two RBIs in his most active game for the Brewers so far, and was one of four members of the Crew to walk during the big rally in the seventh. La Russa was irked because he believed the preceding hitter, Luis Urías, was “ducking” in order to get calls at the top of the strike zone against Burr during a four-pitch walk.

When Tellez walked, it forced home Willy Adames, who paused to have a few words with Taylor while La Russa was in the process of being ejected. 

“This is how much of a leader [Adames] is on our team: He just told me that it was going to be my moment, and to just go up there and do my thing,” Taylor said. “So that’s why I had to calm myself down before that at-bat because he already hyped me up. I was like, ‘Geez, I’ve got to chill. People are getting tossed over here, this guy’s telling me it’s my moment.’ It was exciting.”

Taylor was so excited after his grand slam stayed fair that he nearly missed first base. He was happy to finish a Brewers victory that Peralta had started. 

“All year long, he’s been doing his thing, man. He looks comfortable up there,” Taylor said. “He’s doing a great job, and hopefully we can keep it rolling with him throughout the rest of the season.”