Milwaukee, WI (Best E Casino) - CC Sabathia continued a stellar stretch since joining the Brewers with his second shutout, and Milwaukee easily dispatched of the Washington Nationals 5-0 in the opener of a four-game series at Miller Park.

Sabathia (6-0) stayed perfect in a Brewers uniform with a five-hit, one-walk performance while fanning nine. The big left-hander has made seven starts so far for his new ballclub and has four complete games for Milwaukee, which benefited with its third straight victory.

"Some of our relievers haven't thrown in a week," Brewers manager Ned Yost said. "I keep trying to find ways to get them in but when he goes into the ninth inning with 90 pitches and a shutout, there's no way he's coming out of that game."

J.J. Hardy was 2-for-4 with a home run while Mike Cameron also went deep with a solo shot. Prince Fielder and Corey Hart had an RBI apiece.

Milwaukee stretched its lead to two games over the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Wild Card standings and remained five games back of the Chicago Cubs in the NL Central with the win. Chicago topped St. Louis 3-2 in 11 innings earlier Friday.

Collin Balester (2-4) was shaky through five innings, allowing four runs -- three earned -- on five hits and a walk. The young right-hander was also hurt by two wild pitches and an error in the loss. Lastings Milledge and Jesus Flores had two hits each in defeat.

"There's a reason why they got him," Nationals manager Manny Acta said referring to Sabathia. "He doesn't just blow people away, that guy can pitch."

Despite the loss, Washington is in the midst of one of the team's better stretches of the season with wins in six of its last eight overall.

Milwaukee manufactured a run in its opening frame. Rickie Weeks drew a leadoff walk, moved to second on a wild pitch from Balester and then to third on a ground out before Fielder drove an RBI single to center.

Cameron stroked a solo homer to left with one away in the next frame for an early two-run lead.

The Brewers' bats were scorching early as they added a pair of runs in the third. Hardy and Ryan Braun started things with a pair of singles and both runners moved up on Balester's throwing error on a pickoff attempt. Hardy then crossed home and Braun went to third when the rattled Balester uncorked a wild pitch. Hart followed with a sacrifice fly and the lead was 4-0.

"It's always good when you score early even when you have a good hitting team behind you," Sabathia said. "You never know."

Hardy hit an opposite field solo homer in the seventh to add some insurance for the dominant Sabathia.

"Every pitch looks the same and he throws every pitch for strikes," Nats third baseman Ryan Zimmerman said of Sabathia. "He used to be a guy that threw alot of fastballs, now he's mixing it up."

The Nationals never mounted any sort of threat, scraping together five hits, all of which were singles, against Sabathia.

Game Notes

Milwaukee leads the season series, 3-2, after the teams split a four-game set at Nationals Park May 23-26...Saturday's scheduled starters are Tim Redding (8-6) for Washington and Ben Sheets (10-5) for Milwaukee...Fielder extended his hitting streak to 11 games..Sabathia threw 103 pitches, 77 for strikes...The latest effort earned Sabathia his ninth career shutout and 23rd career complete game. His four complete games since coming to Milwaukee leads the NL.