The Brewers look to extend their division lead when they open a three-game series against the Pirates on Monday at PNC Park.
Milwaukee's Carlos Villanueva (7-3, 4.47 ERA) is expected to make his second straight start Monday. He allowed one run and five hits in six innings of a 5-3 win over Houston on Tuesday.
Villanueva has been called on to start due to injuries within the starting rotation, and is 2-2 with a 3.40 ERA in eight career starts in just under two seasons.
The right-hander will make his first start against the Pirates, but he is 2-0 with a 1.08 ERA in five relief appearances against them.
Milwaukee also will try for its fourth straight win over the Pirates after sweeping them at Miller Park from Aug. 31-Sept. 2. The Brewers lead the season series 9-4, but dropped the final three games of a four-game set at Pittsburgh from July 2-5.
Tony Armas (3-5, 6.49) looks for his second straight win for the Pirates. He allowed two runs and five hits in six innings of an 8-2 win at St. Louis on Wednesday.
The right-hander is 3-1 with a 2.70 ERA in five starts against the Brewers with the lone loss coming on Aug. 31 after he allowed three runs in a six innings of a 3-2 defeat at Milwaukee.
The Brewers are now even more armed for the pennant race.
Claudio Vargas, who has a 10-4 record with a 5.13 earned run average this season, came off the disabled list Sunday and will pitch out of the bullpen until further notice.
With no rainout makeups over the final three weeks and the five-man rotation set for the pennant drive, Vargas isn't likely to start again unless there is an injury.
Vargas complained of a stiff, sore back in his last start, on Aug. 24. In that game he gave up six runs in the first inning and lasted only two-thirds of an inning.
Vargas was not expected to miss much time but was placed on the disabled list to open a spot on the roster for Ben Sheets, who was coming off a 6 1/2-week absence caused by a finger injury.
"We thought he'd probably miss a start, but at this point of the year we needed the arms," Brewers manager Ned Yost said. "It was still before September. If it was September it would have been a different story."
Vargas said he was fine with bullpen duty.
"If they want to send me to the bullpen, I'm OK with that," Vargas said. "The more important thing is to do my job. The most important thing is we win the ballgame."
BREWERS 10, REDS 5: Rickie Weeks, J.J. Hardy and Ryan Braun hit consecutive home runs to start the game -- just the third time in major league history that has happened and the first time a visiting team has done it -- and Braun and Weeks each went deep another time as the Brewers took over sole possession of first in the National League Central. Hardy added two doubles later in the game as the top three in the order combined to go 7-for-11 with five homers, seven RBI and seven runs scored.
--2B Rickie Weeks led off the game with his eighth homer of the season, the fifth time in his career he led off a game with a homer. Weeks also homered in the fourth for the second multi-homer game of his career and had hits in five straight at-bats.
--2B Rickie Weeks, SS J.J. Hardy and 3B Ryan Braun homered consecutively to start the game Sunday at Cincinnati, marking just the third time in major league history that a team started a game with three consecutive homers. The San Diego Padres (Marvell Wynne, Tony Gwynn and John Kruk) did it against the San Francisco Giants on April 13, 1987, and the Atlanta Braves (Rafael Furcal, Mark DeRosa and Gary Sheffield) did it against Cincinnati on May 28, 2003.
--3B Ryan Braun's homer in the first inning was his 29th of the year, setting the Brewers record for homers by a rookie. He previously shared the record with Prince Fielder, who hit 28 last season. Braun added his second of the game and 30th of the year in the second inning.
--RHP Ben Sheets got the win to improve to 12-4 on the season and bring his career record back to .500 at 73-73. Playing with some bad teams through his career, Sheets was last at .500 in May 2002, when he was 14-14.
--1B Prince Fielder homered on Friday and Saturday to give him 43 for the season, tops in the National League. Fielder needs just three more homers to break the franchise record of 45, shared by Gorman Thomas (1979) and Richie Sexson (2001, 2003).
BY THE NUMBERS: 15 -- Games in which the Brewers have led by at least three runs and lost. That's tied for the most in the majors with Baltimore.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "I had a mosquito bite in a certain spot and I was itching it, and (third base coach) Nick (Levy) thought I was putting the steal on. Gabe takes off and I'm looking around thinking, 'What's going on here?' That was an omen to begin with." -- Brewers manager Ned Yost, after Gabe Gross was caught trying to steal third for the final out of the first inning Friday as Ryan Braun struck out and Prince Fielder was due up.
MEDICAL WATCH:
RHP Claudio Vargas (back soreness) went on the disabled list retroactive to Aug. 25. He was activated on Sept. 9.
OF Geoff Jenkins (sore left foot) left the Sept. 3 game after fouling a ball off his foot. X-rays were negative, and he played Sept. 5.
C Damian Miller (strained right calf) left the Sept. 2 game and didn't play Sept. 3-5. He is day-to-day.
LHP Manny Parra (fractured left thumb) went on the disabled list Aug. 31.
INF Tony Graffanino (torn anterior cruciate ligament and cartilage damage in right knee) went on the disabled list Aug. 9. He had a bone graft Aug. 20, preparing him for season-ending surgery.
3B Corey Koskie (post-concussion syndrome) has been on the disabled list all season. There is no timetable for his return to action.