MILWAUKEE -- In honor of the great history of the Negro Leagues, the Nationals wore the Homstead Grays uniform, and for a day at least, Washington played like the Negro Leagues' storied franchise as it pounded the Brewers, 10-4, in front of 21,476 fans at Miller Park.

The Nationals have now won two consecutive games and improved their record to 23-32.

The offense acted as if it had players like the great Josh Gibson on the team. Washington collected 11 hits with Jose Vidro as the hitting hero. He went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and three runs scored.

For once, the Nationals didn't need the long ball to win a ballgame. In fact, it was the team's third win of the season in which the Nationals didn't hit a home run. It was a combination of singles and doubles that helped Washington score its runs.

The Nationals did most of their damage off Dana Eveland, who gave up five runs -- three earned -- in four innings.

After an inning-and-a-half, the Nationals had a 3-0 lead. With runners on first and third, Nick Johnson doubled to right field to send Royce Clayton home and give the Nationals a 1-0 lead. Ryan Zimmerman followed and made it a 2-0 with a sacrifice fly.

An inning later, Clayton drove in the third run of the game with a single to center field to send starter Ramon Ortiz home.

"You don't need home runs to win," manager Frank Robinson said. "[You need] base hits at the right time. Put them together and that will score you runs. Home runs are great, but you can't live by the home runs."

The only time the Brewers made it a close game was in the bottom of the second inning. Errors by Johnson and catcher Brian Schneider gave Milwaukee life, and Damian Miller took advantage of the situation by hitting a two-run homer to make it a 3-2 game.

It was all Nationals after that. They scored seven runs off three pitchers -- Eveland, Jeremi Gonzalez and Dan Kolb.

It was Schneider and Vidro who put the game away. Schneider drove in three runs with a double off Gonzalez in the seventh inning, and Vidro drove in two runs with a double to the opposite field off Kolb in the eighth.

So much for Vidro's slump and his so-called right knee problems. After going 4-for-28 (.143), Vidro responded by raising his average from .319 to .328. The second baseman was able to get out of his slump by having a conversation with Robinson before the game.

"I told you guys that I feel OK. It's just ups and downs," Vidro said. "Amazingly enough, I had a chat with Frank and [bench coach] Eddie Rodriguez before I took batting practice. It seems like every time I talk to the man [Robinson], he finds a way to correct me. He told me to relax a little, let the ball travel, see the ball and don't try to do too much. He told me to still stay aggressive, but at the same time find the strike zone."

Robinson said the double by Vidro indicated that his second baseman is back on track with the bat.

"That was vintage Vidro," Robinson said. "With two strikes, the ball is over the outer part of the plate. Bingo. That's when he knows he is in a good groove."

As for Ortiz, he had another quality outing, pitching 6 2/3 innings and giving up four runs -- two earned. He struck out a season-high seven batters and walked just one. Ortiz has now won four consecutive decisions and evened his record at 4-4.

Robinson didn't think Ortiz had his best outing, but the skipper was happy that Ortiz didn't let the game get away and gave the Nationals a chance to win.

"He was better in his last two starts," Robinson said. "He is getting to the point where he is keeping the game in check. He wasn't sharp tonight like he did his last two or three starts, but he was good enough, and the offense picked him up tonight."

Ortiz said he is successful in his last four starts, because he is no longer trying to blow hitters away and has peace of mind when the Nationals score a lot of runs.

"I try to throw 90, 88 [miles per hour], but down inside, down and away," Ortiz said. "I change speeds. I'm very happy. When you score a lot of runs, you don't have to think about anything. Just pitch and throw the ball."