Coming into Wednesday night's game against Cincinnati, the Brewers' potent offense had hardly created as much as a whisper as the team limped to a 2-6 start to the young season.

The Brewers' .217 batting average was dead last in the National League. With runners in scoring position, the Brewers had just seven hits in 49 opportunities since going 7-for-21 with RISP on Opening Day. After the seventh inning, they were hitting .190.

It goes without saying then that Milwaukee's 9-3 victory over the Reds came as a sigh of relief.

Mike Cameron sparked the offense with a 3-for-3 outing that included a pair of home runs and a double while the team scored five runs in the sixth inning on four extra base hits to snap a four-game winning streak.

Cameron wasn't alone; Jason Kendall and Bill Hall came through with back-to-back doubles in the sixth, which set the stage for Rickie Weeks' three-run homer that, at the time, gave Milwaukee a five-run lead.

"The thing that was missing during this homestand that hurt us a bunch was timely hits," manager Ken Macha said.

Braden Looper helped right the ship for the starting rotation, going a full six innings while allowing three runs on six hits with five strikeouts.

The key stat for Looper, at least in Macha's opinion was one; as in the number of walks Looper allowed. Bases on balls have been a staff-wide epidemic so far this season, and Looper bucked the trend by attacking the zone.

"One walk ... that's the lesson," Macha said.

Looper, who missed a significant portion of spring training, said other than one bad pitch -- he called it "bone-headed, more than anything" -- it was the best he felt since the start of spring.

"I felt real good out of the gate," Looper said. "I had real good command of all my pitches. I just lost it a little bit at the end. I just felt like I threw the ball really well."

In his second start of the season, Looper coasted through his first four innings. He allowed just three hits, but the defense turned two double-plays to erase the runners. He started to labor a bit in the fifth, allowing a run when Ramon Hernandez -- 0-for-17 heading into the at-bat -- doubled to score Edwin Encarnacion.

In the sixth, Chris Dickerson belted a game-tying, two-run home run to right on a fastball that caught a little too much of the plate. Joey Votto followed with a walk before Looper got Brandon Phillips to fly out to center and Jay Bruce struck out swinging.

The Brewers defense again prevented further damage by turning a long double that Fielder was able to scoop from the dirt.

"There were a couple nice plays by Prince at first," Macha said. "That didn't go unnoticed by me."

Had the Brewers not scored in the sixth, Macha was going to let Looper -- at 93 pitches -- return for the seventh. But after the offense came through, he gave the ball to right-hander Mark DiFelice who turned in another solid outing, allowing just one hit in his inning of work.

Mitch Stetter worked a scoreless eighth and Todd Coffey extended his streak of scoreless innings since joining the Brewers to 12.1 with a perfect ninth.

"It was good," Cameron said of the much-needed victory. "Not just for me. ... We've got a tough road trip coming up so it's good to get off the schneid."

Cameron's big day came on a special night for Major League Baseball, which honored Jackie Robinson, who broke the league's color barrier in 1947. Both the Brewers and Reds players -- like the rest of MLB players -- wore No. 42 on the back of their jerseys for the game.

"It's definitely cool," Cameron said. "Every day, every opportunity that we get a chance to go on the field considering the fact that I am African-American, it's a blessing."

NOTES: J.J. Hardy was a last-minute scratch after experiencing stiffness in his back. He's expected to be in the lineup when the Brewers play the Mets Friday in New York. ... Cameron hit multiple home runs in a game for the 14th time in his career. ... Braden Looper recorded his first-ever victory at Miller Park. ... After an off-day Thursday, the Brewers open a nine-game, 10-day road trip to New York, Philadelphia and Houston.