PITTSBURGH — Manny Parra felt a sense of urgency to help stop the Milwaukee Brewers' five-game losing streak, and responded with one of the best starts of his young career.

Parra pitched 5.2 scoreless innings, and Mike Cameron and Corey Hart homered in Milwaukee's 7-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night.

"I knew about the losing streak," the 25-yearold Parra said. "It was important to stop it. They way we played today says a lot. We hit the ball. We got guys on base. We kept momentum on our side."

Parra (2-2), who has made 11 starts for Milwaukee since being called up last season, won for the first time since beating San Francisco on April 5. The left-hander allowed only four hits and a walk, and struck out six.

"Manny is making real positive strides every time he goes out," Milwaukee manager Ned Yost said. "I was pleased with what he was able to do. He did a nice job of keeping them off-balance and attacking with his fastball."

Cameron, who entered the game in a 7-for-46 slump, had three hits and a walk. His two-run home run into the left-field corner in the seventh, his fifth of the season, gave Milwaukee a 4-0 lead and chased Pirates starter Paul Maholm (2-5).

Hart's third homer, a solo shot, came in the ninth.

Ryan Braun had two hits and an RBI, and Bill Hall reached base four times and drove in a run for Milwaukee, which had 14 hits and also snapped a nine-game road losing streak.

"We swung the bats the way we're capable of swinging," Cameron said. "Now, we need to continue to work. We just needed to stop (the losing streak). It was good for Manny to stop it."

Parra needed 116 pitches to finish his outing, but Pittsburgh could do little to take advantage.

Freddy Sanchez doubled to lead off the sixth, but was stranded at third. The Pirates put two runners on base in the fourth, when Jason Bay walked and Xavier Nady singled with two outs. But Adam LaRoche struck out to end the inning.

"We've been scoring runs," Pittsburgh manager John Russell said. "It was just one of those nights where we couldn't get anything going. I can't explain it."