MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Given a little run support, Ben Sheets wasn't
about to let a win get away from him.

Sheets scattered five hits over eight innings and struck out
Vladimir Guerrero with two runners on to end the eighth as
Milwaukee Brewers beat the Montreal Expos 6-2.

"Ben finally pitched a game like he's capable of,'' Milwaukee
manager Jerry Royster said. "That's his best game of the year.''

Even good outings haven't always been enough for Sheets. In his
league-leading 14 losses, Sheets has gotten an average of only 1.43
runs of support. Sunday, Matt Stairs, Richie Sexson and Jose
Hernandez all homered and Jeffrey Hammonds added a two-run single.

Stairs' 420-foot drive to right-center in the fifth gave
Milwaukee a 2-1 lead, and Sexson's 24th homer, a 430-foot shot to
left leading off the seventh, put the Brewers on top for good, 3-2.
Hernandez added a solo homer, his 21st, later in the inning.

Sheets (6-14), who leads the National League in losses, allowed
two runs, walked one and struck out seven. He had been hit hard in
each of his last two starts, allowing 21 hits and 13 earned runs in
11 innings, but didn't see much difference between those outings
and Sunday's.

"They were hitting it right at people, that's what was going
well,'' Sheets said.

After the Brewers went up 4-2 in the seventh, Sheets retired the
first batter in the eighth before Brad Wilkerson singled and Jose
Macias reached on an error. He got out of the inning when he got
Jose Vidro to fly to center and then struck out Guerrero on a 3-2
fastball.

"I'll give the kid credit,'' Montreal manager Frank Robinson
said. "He really went after him.''

Expos starter Masato Yoshii (3-5) retired the first 10 batters
he faced before Eric Young singled to left in the fourth. Young was
quickly erased on a 4-3 double play.

Sheets also was strong early. The only hit he allowed in the
first five innings was a single by Guerrero in the fourth.

Montreal scored in the second without a hit. Guerrero walked,
stole second and took third when catcher Paul Bako's throw sailed
into the outfield. He scored on Troy O'Leary's groundout to first.

In the Brewers' fifth, Sexson led off with a single before
Stairs hit a 2-0 pitch for his 10th homer of the season. Yoshii
then retired six of the next seven hitters before Sexson's homer on
the second pitch of the seventh -- Yoshii's last pitch of the game.
He left having thrown only 63 pitches, 43 for strikes.

"I thought I had a good chance to win today, but I gave up two
home runs and that cost us the game,'' Yoshii said through an
interpreter.

Guerrero tied the game 2-all leading off the seventh. He hit a
2-1 pitch 405 feet to dead center for his third homer in three
games and 32nd of the season.

The Brewers added two more runs in the eighth on four singles,
the last one a two-run hit by Hammonds.

Game notes
Stairs' home run was the 150th of his career. ... Young
singled in the fourth, sixth and eighth, giving him seven singles
in his last eight at-bats. ... Guerrero stretched his hitting
streak to 12 games with his fourth-inning single. He is batting
.425 (20-for-47) with five doubles, six homers and nine RBI during
that stretch. ... Montreal is 0-10 in Sunday road games.