Eric Thames sets Brewers mark with 11th home run in April

— -- MILWAUKEE -- Eric Thames is bashing his way into the Brewers' record book.

With a two-run shot in a 9-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds?on Tuesday night, Thames upped his major league-leading home run total to 11. He also set a franchise record for April homers. And he now has four more games to challenge the major league mark of 14 home runs in the month of April set by? Albert Pujols?in 2006 and Alex Rodriguez? in 2007.

"Any time a guy goes on a run like this, you're in awe a little bit," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "It's different, for sure. It's still hard to do. I think everybody still appreciates that. It's not easy to do. He's going up there, taking great swings."

Following Tuesday's win, Thames was tested for the third time by Major League Baseball -- once during spring training and now twice during the regular season.?

Thames said he's unconcerned by the extra testing.

"If people keep thinking I'm on stuff, I'll be here every day," Thames said Tuesday. "I have a lot of blood and urine."

The Reds have already seen plenty of Thames, who has eight homers in six games against Cincinnati pitchers.

"It is crazy with baseball," the left-handed slugger said after hitting two homers in Milwaukee's 11-7 win versus Cincy on Monday. "There are some teams that somehow the ball finds your barrel, and there are some teams where you get a good pitch and you swing and it is a foul ball or a strikeout. I don't know."

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Thames is the first player in the modern era to homer in each of his first six games against an opponent.

"I'm not trying to hit a home run," Thames said. "I'm trying to get a good pitch to hit and put a good swing on it. The result was the result. I was happy the ball got out."

Many American fans had no idea how Thames' success overseas would translate to the majors. He hit .348 with 124 home runs, 379 RBIs and 64 steals in 388 games during three seasons in South Korea.

The Brewers signed the 30-year-old Thames in November to a $16 million, three-year contract. In need of more lefties in the lineup, they cut right-hitting first baseman? Chris Carter?after a 41-homer season that tied for the National League lead.

Thames had an unremarkable initial stint in the majors, hitting .250 and 21 homers with the? Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners?in 2011 and 2012. The Blue Jays selected Thames in the seventh round of the 2008 amateur draft.

There was still enough of a history, though, to track Thames' progression all the way back to his days playing college ball at Pepperdine, Brewers general manager David Stearns said before Tuesday's game. Thames has said he learned how to be patient while playing in Korea, because while pitchers there don't throw as hard, they are able to locate their off-speed pitches.

"We do the best we can, analytically, but we recognize that can only take us so far, and we try to look at some other factors of the 'why' and why is the player having success in his current environment. Do we think that those driving forces will translate to the major league level," Stearns said.

"In this case, we ultimately thought that there was a good chance that the reasons that Eric was having success ... in Korea would ultimately translate to the United States," he added.

Now Thames is processing information about major league pitching at a quick rate, making adjustments pitch by pitch.

"He's not missing. As the saying goes: You may get one good pitch to hit in your at-bat; you don't want to miss it," Reds manager Bryan Price said. "He's hit some good pitches too, but he doesn't miss a mistake."

The early success is also about feeling more confident in his abilities and having more fun over the past three years.

In January, during his first interaction with Brewers fans on a winter caravan event, Thames spoke about looking forward to the little things again, like being able to speak more English with teammates and playing cards in the clubhouse. He said he felt humbled to be back in the majors. An affable personality also lends to the appearance of Thames feeling at ease in Milwaukee.

"In Korea and here, I'm just going to do my job and work as hard as I can so come game time I can relax and let it all go," Thames said.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.