WASHINGTON _ After scuffling to score runs for most of the eight games, the Milwaukee Brewers returned to what they do best.
Bombs away.
Slugging three home runs that accounted for five of their eight runs, the Brewers looked more like their pre-slide selves Tuesday night in an 8-0 whipping of Washington at Nationals Park.
The victory _ only their second in nine games _ allowed the first-place Brewers to retain a half game lead in the NL Central over the Chicago Cubs, who beat the White Sox earlier in the day. It was only the second time over that stretch that Milwaukee scored more than three runs.
Some bunting by winning pitcher Zach Davies (12-4) got things going early before the heavy artillery was summoned. The Brewers' first run scored on a safety squeeze in the second inning by Davies, with Manny Pina sliding in ahead of the flip from pitcher Edwin Jackson.
Davies sacrificed again in the fourth, reaching on an error by first baseman Ryan Zimmerman. He also beat a flip to second base on an infield hit by Ryan Braun, keeping alive the inning for Travis Shaw, who blasted a three-run homer to center two pitches after sending a drive just foul down the right-field line.
The barrage got louder in the fifth. Leading off the inning, Eric Thames sent a towering drive off the facing of the third deck in right field for his 24th home run of the season. The next batter, Pina, ripped an opposite-field drive to right-center for his seventh homer and a 7-0 lead.
That was more than enough for Davies, who has been in the inexplicable spot in the rotation that has gotten the most runs this season. Building on a solid outing in Pittsburgh (no earned runs in seven innings), Davies worked into the eighth inning for the first time this season, recording two outs before departing.
Davies allowed only three hits and finished with three walks and seven strikeouts.
