MILWAUKEE — It's too early to say the Milwaukee Brewers have reversed their fortunes, but it is amazing what three wins in four games against the St. Louis Cardinals will do for a team.

The Brewers pulled out the series and knocked the Cardinals from their share of first place Monday night behind the powerful bat of Ryan Braun and the suddenly powerful arm of starter Dave Bush in an 8-3 victory at Miller Park.

Braun hit two home runs for the second straight game and Bush (1-4) picked up his first victory of the season in his sixth start by allowing just one run in six innings as the Brewers continued their turnaround from a six-game losing streak they carried into this series with the Cardinals.

The Brewers scored five runs in the third inning off St. Louis starter Adam Wainwright (3-2) and batted around for the first time since April 4. It was their most runs in 12 games.

"All year we've put a lot of pressure on our pitchers by not scoring runs," Braun said.

"You knew it wasn't going to be too long," said Bush, who opened the third with a double down the left-field line. "You knew it was going to happen."

There were two moments in that four-hit inning that hinted that maybe the Brewers' ill luck of late was changing, and neither involved a hit.

The first came when Braun stepped to the plate after Mike Cameron's ground-rule double scored Bush to give the Brewers a 2-1 lead.

Braun, who in his first at-bat hit his eighth home run of the season into the second deck in left, drew a walk to load the bases.

It was an at-bat that made manager Ned Yost extremely happy. He's watched Braun get closer and closer to the form that helped him win the National League Rookie of the Year award last year. Braun added another solo shot in the fifth to make it 7-1.

"(Sunday) showed it, (Monday) confirmed it," Yost said of Braun's recent prowess at the plate, a 9-for-16 surge in the four games against the Cardinals. "When I saw that (walk), I knew Ryan Braun was back to being the Ryan Braun we know."

The next came after Corey Hart had delivered a two-run single that made it 4-1 and moved Braun to second. Bill Hall lifted a fly to short right and Cardinals second baseman Adam Kennedy looked as if he was going to make the play to end the inning.

But he bobbled it out of his glove not once but twice before the ball fell to the ground for a two-base error and two more runs.

"When little things like that go your way," Braun said when asked when he could sense a turn in fortunes. "It's a huge difference between 6-1 and 4-1. All year long, it seems those little things have gone for the opposition."

It was up to Bush to take advantage of it, and he did, scattering four hits and holding the Cardinals scoreless over his last five innings.

After allowing a two-out, solo home run to Rick Ankiel in the first, Bush allowed just one runner to third. He retired nine of the last 10 hitters he faced.

"It's a huge help to get some run support early in the game," Bush said. "The offense has been starting to come around the past few games, and that lead allowed me to relax."

Of course, it wouldn't be a Brewers game with some drama.

Eric Gagne made his first appearance since being removed as the closer and allowed one run in the eighth after a scoreless seventh in a rare two-inning appearance.

"Definitely," Yost said when asked if he saw some improvement from the beleaguered reliever. "He made the adjustments we wanted him to make. He wanted to go back out."

Reliever Mitch Stetter made it interesting by walking four in the ninth. But with Albert Pujols standing on the top step of the dugout with a bat in his hand, Guillermo Mota never let the slugger make a pinch-hitting appearance by striking out Ankiel for his first save in more than three years.