MILWAUKEE -- Patience helped carry Ryan Braun and Jeff Suppan through some rough times, just as the Brewers hope it will carry the whole team to a hot streak.

Swinging a hot and pink bat, Braun continued his sizzling hitting by slugging a pair of solo home runs, and Suppan waited out the treacherous St. Louis Cardinals offense to win for the first time in 5 1/2 weeks, leading the Brewers to a 5-3 victory Sunday afternoon.

Braun, the National League Rookie of the Year in 2007, started this season cooler than he did the previous one, when he hit .324 and blasted 34 homers. Braun this April had three homers along with a .296 on-base percentage, but has picked up his production lately. He is 14-for-30 against St. Louis, including 7-for-13 in this series, which concludes Monday.

"It was just a matter of time," Braun said. "I never really stopped believing in myself. I understand what I'm capable of doing. I know where I'll eventually be at. I'll continue to work hard. I know that results will come."

The Brewers (18-19) had lost seven of eight coming in, which they say belies how well they are playing. They are within four games of first place in the NL Central, with St. Louis and the Chicago Cubs tied atop it.

"We've been pretty even-keeled throughout this whole process," Braun said. "We understand what we're capable of doing -- we just haven't been doing it on a consistent basis."

The same had gone for Suppan, who needed 65 pitches to wriggle through the first three innings but settled down to allow a run, six hits and five walks over seven. His previous win came April 2, against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.

"I think when you win, that's the important thing," said Suppan, who improved to 2-2. "I didn't even really notice [the winless streak] until I started hearing it more. You go through the ups and downs of the season. When you get the wins, it doesn't matter who gets them."

Corey Hart added a two-run double and J.J. Hardy had three hits and an RBI -- both players also swung pink bats -- and Brian Shouse picked up a save for Milwaukee, which has removed Eric Gagne as closer.

Braun, Hart and others on the Brewers and around Major League Baseball swung pink bats on Mother's Day to help raise awareness for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation to fight breast cancer.

Braun was happy to publicize the cause and would like to keep on publicizing it.

"Let's continue to use those bats," said Braun, who probably lost his gamer to the auction block.

Braun's homers came against Braden Looper (5-2) in the third and fifth, giving him his fourth career two-homer game.

"I was just fortunate and happy to get one," Braun said. "I've been swinging the bat great lately, so it's nice to contribute and even better that it came in a win and a big win."

Brewers manager Ned Yost said it was big of Suppan to stay in the game as long as he did.

"It's a big deal that he pitched his heart out through seven innings," Yost said.

The pitches quickly piled up on Suppan, who allowed all of his walks in the first three innings. He said he never changed his approach against a patient and sometimes powerful Cardinals lineup.

Suppan also was helped by strong defense, particularly a 5-4 double play, which Bill Hall started by leaping high on a Troy Glaus line drive in the sixth.

"That was a huge play," Yost said. "It really opens up the bullpen. We only needed to get six outs with the 'pen instead of nine."

After Suppan, David Riske allowed a solo homer to Ryan Ludwick in the eighth and Shouse came in for left-hander Salomon Torres -- who used to close for Pittsburgh -- to record the final out in the ninth with the potential go-ahead run at the plate.

"My whole thing was that I didnt want to give up a home run," said Shouse, who has five career saves in 373 career appearances. "I'm not going to get most of those things, it's going to be [Guillermo] Mota and Riske and Torres," Shouse said.

Hart's double to left scored Rickie Weeks and Tony Gwynn, who started the bottom of the first with walks off Looper. Hart, an outfielder, also leaped to keep Glaus from hitting a home run in the ninth. The ball came out of his glove after hitting the top of the fence.

Yadier Molina and Chris Duncan each drove in a run for the Cardinals.