CINCINNATI -- Competition has been a positive thing for the Milwaukee Brewers. As it stands, six pitchers are vying for five spots in the rotation next season.

"We've got six guys who we feel are major league starters," manager Craig Counsell said. "It puts us in a good spot moving forward, and it is motivation for guys. That's what you want."

Right-hander Junior Guerra has placed his name firmly in that conversation.

Domingo Santana hit a three-run home run, Scooter Gennett added a two-run shot and Guerra tossed six shutout innings, lifting the Milwaukee Brewers to a 7-0 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday night at Great American Ball Park.

Milwaukee won for just the second time in its previous seven meetings with Cincinnati and avoided being swept by the Reds for the first time since 2013.

Guerra (9-3) gave up only three hits while walking two and striking out five. The Brewers improved to 14-6 when he pitches.

"He's putting together a really good season, coming back from the little time off," said Counsell, referring to Guerra's stint on the DL with elbow inflammation. "He's got a real sense of the moment, when to step it up. He was real good today."

The loss snapped Cincinnati's four-game winning streak.

Right-hander Tim Adleman (2-4) took the loss for the Reds after allowing four earned runs over 93 pitches in his five innings of work.

"I buried myself tonight," Adleman said. "I was a bit too erratic and that was a result of me being way too fine. They are good professional hitters. I don't want to take anything away from them but I gave them too much credit."

Milwaukee drew six walks on Wednesday and five of them scored, including two in the eighth before Santana's towering blast into the upper-deck bleachers in left field that made the score 7-0.

"We worked the pitch counts up," Gennett said. "When you have those at-bats, things tend to happen later in the game. We swung the bats well. It was important to keep tacking on runs."

Santana's eighth homer of the season came on the first pitch from Ross Ohlendorf and traveled an estimated 425 feet.

Adleman needed 72 pitches to get through three innings. When he did throw a strike, it generally was hit hard.

A pair of walks to begin the second inning came back to bite Adleman when Manny Pina singled with the bases loaded to put Milwaukee ahead 2-0. Pina went 2-for-3 with two RBIs.

"That second inning our first three hitters got to 3-2 counts, hit some foul balls, and battled to get on base," Counsell said. "That's what our hitters have been good at this year. It's led to some strikeouts at times, but it's also led to wearing a guy down."

A walk to Chris Carter in the third preceded Gennett's 12th homer, a two-run shot to make the score 4-0.

"This was a night that really resembled our offense," said Counsell. "We put men on base and we hit some homers. That's a recipe for us. We didn't do it with a bunch of hits."

Cincinnati had runners in scoring position in the second, third and fourth innings, but failed to score.

Jose Peraza tripled with one out in the third for Cincinnati but was left stranded. Peraza's first triple of the season was one of only two hits allowed by Guerra through three.

"We walked six guys and five scored," Reds manager Bryan Price said. "I think we hit more balls on the screws than they did but they took advantage of walks. After the home run by Gennett we were never able to get back in the game."

NOTES: Reds RHP Keyvius Sampson, who tossed 4 2/3 scoreless innings on Tuesday, likely will start Sunday's series finale against the Pittsburgh Pirates. ... Reds 2B Brandon Phillips (rest) was held out of the starting lineup on Wednesday. ... Brewers 1B Chris Carter played in his 144th game on Wednesday, four shy of his career high in 2013 while with the Houston Astros. ... RHP Abel De Los Santos was the 31st pitcher used by the Reds this season, a franchise high. ... Brewers RHP Taylor Jungmann has been throwing the ball, but hadn't pitched since being recalled on Sept. 6 until a scoreless ninth on Wednesday.