MILWAUKEE — It figured to be bad news for the Milwaukee Brewers when Paul Goldschmidt joined the St. Louis Cardinals during the offseason.

And it didn’t take long for the former Arizona Diamondbacks slugger to make his presence felt as he blasted three home runs off three pitchers Friday night to power the Cardinals to a 9-5 victory at Miller Park.

Goldschmidt accounted for six of those runs with a two-run homer in the first, a solo shot in the sixth and a two-run blast in the seventh for the second three-home run game of his career.

The Brewers finally wised up and walked him intentionally in the ninth.

Miller Park has been one of Goldschmidt’s favorite places to hit, although he didn’t play there that often with Arizona.

Among players with at least 100 plate appearances at Miller Park, Goldschmidt entered the season ranked No. 1 in batting average (.407), on-base percentage (.491), slugging (.780) and OPS (1.271).

After his first two games in Milwaukee as a Cardinal those numbers are up to a .414 average, an even .500 on-base, .848 slugging and 1.348 OPS.

With Goldschmidt signed to a five-year extension to keep him in St. Louis through 2024, the Brewers will get plenty of opportunities to try to figure a way to get him out.

“He definitely got us today,” manager Craig Counsell said. “We’re just going to have to make better pitches. The great hitters, the margin for error is far more slim. Once in a while they’re going to hit a tough pitch out, but when those guys are locked in mistakes are likely to get hit hard.”

Brewers starter Freddy Peralta struggled from the beginning, walking leadoff hitter Matt Carpenter and then surrendering Goldschmidt’s first home run as a Cardinal on a 3-2 fastball that ended up in the first row of the left-field bleachers.

“Freddy missed his location badly, but it was probably a ball,” Counsell said of the home run pitch to Goldschmidt. “I think it was ball four, but he obviously had a great night.”

Peralta then hit Paul DeJong with a pitch and he scored two batters later on a double by Yadier Molina.

Following a walk to Dexter Fowler, Counsell used up one of his mound visits and Peralta responded by striking out Kolten Wong and Harrison Bader to end the inning after throwing 39 pitches.

“He was scattered with his fastball,” Counsell said of Peralta. “It got him into trouble and they took some close pitches that weren’t called and they made him work pretty good.”

Peralta worked his way out of trouble the next two innings and the Brewers were able to even things up with a three-run home run by Ryan Braun in the third.

Cardinals starter Jack Flaherty retired the first two batters of the inning, Cain reached on an infield single, Christian Yelich walked and Braun then drove a 2-1 pitch over the Brewers’ bullpen for the first home run with his newly revamped swing.

St. Louis regained the lead in the fourth as Peralta was pulled after allowing singles to Flaherty and Carpenter to start the inning. Flaherty then came home on a one-out single by DeJong off reliever Matt Albers.

The Brewers tied it again in the bottom of the fourth when Jesus Aguilar led off with a single, advanced to third on a double by Mike Moustakas and scored on a sacrifice fly by Yasmani Grandal — the first run of the season for the Brewers that was not the result of a home run.

Goldschmidt then put the Cardinals ahead to stay with his second home run, this one off Taylor Williams in the sixth. His final homer came off Jacob Barnes.