Braden Looper came to the Milwaukee Brewers in the off-season with a reputation as an innings-eater.

Looper's shown why in his first four starts of the season, with the latest coming in Monday night's 10-5 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates at Miller Park.

Looper admitted after the game he didn't have command of his fastball and could tell from his bullpen session "that it was just going to be one of those days that was going to be tough." But he fought through five innings, leaving the game with the Brewers leading 5-3.

Looper needed 101 pitches, gave up six hits and issued four walks.

“I just wasn’t able to locate my fastball much, and that’s such a big part of my game," he said. "But luckily I was able to, for the most part, use my other pitches and try to get as many outs as I could. It’s pretty bad to only go five.”

Still, he kept Milwaukee in the game and lessened the strain on the bullpen. In that regard, it was similar to his start against the Cubs in the Brewers' home opener, when he also didn't have his best stuff but battled through five.

Looper pitched six innings in each of his other two starts, and has a 2.45 earned run average. The early returns seem to be what the Brewers expected from him.