MILWAUKEE -- CC Sabathia's pressure valve was released with the last out in the sixth inning Tuesday night, a swinging strikeout of pinch-hitter Brad Hawpe with the tying run on second and the lead run on first.

It was at that moment that Sabathia could put the excitement, the buildup, all those standing ovations and chants of "Let's go CC" behind him to look ahead to what this new world as a member of the Milwaukee Brewers could mean to him over the next 2 months.

Sabathia pumped his fist and let out a scream with that strikeout -- as much a celebration of working out of a game-changing jam as it was an exclamation of let's get down to the business of pitching and putting all the hoopla in the past.

"That was just letting out everything from the past couple of days, the anticipation of getting back to the mound, the frustration of five walks and not being able to throw the ball where I wanted to," Sabathia said. "It was a relief."

It was the critical moment in what turned out to be a 7-3 victory over the Colorado Rockies before a sellout crowd of 42,533 at Miller Park.

"Talk about an unbelievable atmosphere," said catcher Jason Kendall. "It was very cool. Everybody on this team got goose bumps."

That sixth-inning reaction was the culmination of all those standing ovations, the cheers from when he walked in from the bullpen at the start of the game and all the hoopla surrounding his trade.

"I had a bunch of emotions running through my head, just from the fans and the electricity they brought to the stadium. It got me a little too excited. I rushed through my bullpen just to get into the game. I think that was the reason I was so erratic," Sabathia said.

His nerves were showing in that first inning when he walked the Rockies' leadoff hitter, Willie Taveras. But he escaped any damage and ended the inning with a strikeout of Ryan Spilborghs.

"These players are creatures of routine," manager Ned Yost said. "This definitely adds more to the game than we are accustomed to in the middle of the season. This is a big game for CC and all of us to get over."

The Brewers gave Sabathia a 3-0 lead when Ryan Braun lashed a three-run homer deep into the second deck in left before Rockies starter Mark Redman had retired a batter. Milwaukee added a fourth run in the third on Prince Fielder's ground out that scored Rickie Weeks, who reached on a double, his second of three hits.

The Brewers then put it away with three runs in the seventh, with Bill Hall contributing a two-run single.

Sabathia allowed an unearned run in the fourth but worked himself out of trouble.

It was in the sixth, when the Rockies reached Sabathia for two runs, that he showed what the Brewers traded for in their quest for the postseason after 26 years of watching from the outside in October.

It could have been three runs if Spilborghs had not injured a side muscle rounding second and been forced to stop at third on Yorvit Torrealba's bases-loaded double. Sabathia then helped himself out by fielding Jayson Nix's liner back to the mound and throwing to third to double off pinch-runner Scott Podsednik for the first two outs of the inning.

"An accident," Sabathia said of the stab.

No so, said Yost. "He's nimble like a cat out there," Yost said of his 6-foot-7, 290-pound pitcher. "He snatched it and turned two. That was a big break for us."

After a walk to Omar Quintanilla, Sabathia struck out Hawpe. It spelled the end of his outing after 97 pitches, not the sort of number that usually takes a toll on this workhorse. But after the last 36 hours, 97 pitches might as well have been 197.

"He really wanted to come out and show the fans of Milwaukee who he is," Yost said.

If all goes according to plan, they will get at least 13 more chances to watch. But none is likely to be as difficult and emotional as this one.

"It's exceeded anything I could have imagined," Sabathia said of his welcome. "I didn't expect anything like this. I feel like I've come into a perfect situation."