Brewers pitch and slug their way to sweep PITTSBURGH -- The Brewers wasted little time introducing a novel concept to their top two pitchers: Run support. At PNC Park, no less. After scoring nine runs for Ben Sheets on Opening Day, the Brewers came back Wednesday with another well-balanced attack to support Doug Davis, who pitched six strong innings of a 10-2 win over the Pirates in front of 12,077 fans in Pittsburgh. "Every game won't be like this," said Brewers newcomer Carlos Lee, who hit his first home run and knocked in four. "We'll still have to go in there and win 3-2 games, 4-3 games. Sometimes the offense is going to do it." Lee went 2-for-4 with four RBIs including a two-run double and a solo home run, and Junior Spivey also homered and scored three times to lead Milwaukee's suddenly potent offense. The team had all phases working this week, and scored a rare sweep at a ballpark that has been nothing but trouble since it opened on the banks of the Allegheny River in 2001. Before this season-opening, two-game set, the Brewers were 11-26 here including 2-6 last season. After scoring 22 runs in their nine previous games here (including a 9-6 win on Sept. 6, 2004) the Brewers tallied 19 runs in two games this week. "We try to forget about last year as much as possible," manager Ned Yost said. The same can be said for Sheets and Davis (1-0), despite their statistical success. Both pitchers, Sheets a right-hander and Davis a lefty, enjoyed breakout seasons in 2004 but finished with just 12 wins apiece. The Brewers scored 3.53 runs per start for Sheets, second-worst in the National League, while Davis got 4.56 runs of support, 12th-worst. "Totally different lineup, totally different year," said Davis, who scattered four hits over six innings in his season debut. "We've got the balance of lefties and righties in our lineup, and, not only that, but we've got the defense out there, too. ... The defense was unbelievable. They had three or four diving catches in the outfield. That pumps you up." The Brewers, who rebuilt the offense during the offseason, have scored nine runs in consecutive games for the first time since April 27-28, 2004. "No offense is going to score nine runs a day," Yost said. "But I'll take it today." The Brewers jumped on Pirates starter Kip Wells (0-1) in the first inning, scoring four times on a trio of hits including two-run doubles by Lee and Russell Branyan. Solo home runs by Spivey and Lee in the fourth and fifth innings made it 6-0, and the Brewers tacked on two more against reliever John Grabow in the sixth. "Things kind of unraveled pretty quickly there," said Wells, who was tagged with six runs, all earned, on five hits, five walks and a hit batter in his five-inning stint. "Just a couple of inches here and there in the first inning and things might have been different. But they came out swinging, I was up in the zone and they took advantage of it." Davis was on cruise control through five innings and was one out away from escaping damage in the sixth when Tike Redman lined a 1-1 pitch for a two-run home run. That was all the Pirates could muster against the Milwaukee left-hander, who walked two and struck out five for his first win. "My key pitch today was the change-up," Davis said. "It allowed me to get ahead to a lot of hitters. Guys fouled it off or completely missed it." It was a great start for one of the NL's most underrated 1-2 pitching punches. Sheets and Davis each made 24 so-called "quality starts" last season, when they were tagged with three or fewer earned runs in six or more innings, tying Minnesota right-hander (and Wisconsin native) Brad Radke for fourth-most in the Major Leagues. Sheets ranked fourth among Major League qualifiers with a 2.70 ERA and Davis 15th with a 3.39, the league's only duo in the top 15 in that key category. "We expect those guys to pitch good," Lee said. "They've gotta go out there and keep us in the game." Lee's arrival is one reason the Brewers expect the offense to hold up its end more often this season. On Monday, every positional starter collected at least one hit in Sheets' 9-2 win. On Wednesday, seven of the eight chipped in. Lyle Overbay was the only starter without a hit, though he walked and scored a run. After striking out four times on Monday, Spivey went 3-for-3 with three runs scored and his first home run of the season. PNC Park had been especially brutal to the Brewers' second baseman, who entered the game with a .175 career batting average here and the memory of July 2, 2004, when he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury sliding headfirst into first base. "I don't consider this ballpark jinxed," Spivey said. "I hadn't even thought about it since the last time I got injured. ... I've struggled in the past against [the Pirates'] staff, so it was good to get a couple of hits and get going against this team." Said Lee: "So far, so good. We're doing a good job. We're playing good defense. We're pitching good. We got some big base hits. ... This team can do it a lot of different ways. We play the small ball. We bunt, we move guys over. Today, we got some doubles, some more extra-base hits. That proves that now we can play both games -- the small one and the big one. On to Chicago, where the Brewers will try to keep it up. --

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