MIAMI (AP) -Winning a game with his arm was nothing unusual for Josh Johnson. Hitting a big home run was.

Johnson hit a three-run shot for his first career homer and pitched into the eighth inning Thursday night, leading the Florida Marlins to a 4-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers.

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``I kind of ran into a ball and got pretty lucky,' Johnson said. ``But I'll take it.'

John Baker had an RBI single in a four-run fourth for the Marlins, who took three of four from the Brewers. Milwaukee dropped into a first-place tie with St. Louis atop the NL Central.

Johnson (5-1) allowed two runs and five hits in 7 2-3 innings. He walked one, struck out eight and hit a batter with a pitch in earning his first home victory since April 12.

He connected off Dave Bush (3-2) in the fourth to give Florida a 4-1 lead.

``I saw (center fielder Mike) Cameron running and I said, 'Please, drop ... do something,'' Johnson said. ``As soon as I saw him get to the fence I was like, 'OK, I got it.''

Johnson earned a curtain call from the crowd of 11,623 but needed to be pushed out of the dugout by his teammates.

``Pretty much everyone in the dugout was laughing or smiling, one of the two,' he said.

Jorge Cantu led off the inning with a double into the left-field corner. He held at second when Jeremy Hermida reached on an infield single to shortstop. After Cantu went to third on Dan Uggla's flyout to deep center, Baker lined a run-scoring single to center to tie it 1-all.

After an out, Johnson hit a pitch over the wall in straightaway center. His homer was the first by a Marlins pitcher since Dontrelle Willis connected against Atlanta on Aug. 29, 2007.

``It wasn't a cheap one. He hit it to one of the deepest parts of the ballpark,' Bush said.

Johnson gave way to Dan Meyer with two outs and a runner on first in the eighth. Meyer promptly gave up Prince Fielder's 13th home run, a two-run drive that cut Florida's lead to 4-3.

``I don't know what (Meyer) was thinking. He threw a fastball and I got it,' Fielder said.

Matt Lindstrom pitched a scoreless ninth for his 11th save in 13 opportunities. The game took 2 hours, 25 minutes.

Bush gave up four runs and seven hits in six innings. He walked two and struck out four.

Fielder's run-scoring triple gave the Brewers a 1-0 lead in the fourth. Fielder finished with three hits.

J.J. Hardy opened the fourth with a bloop single and advanced to second on Ryan Braun's groundout. Fielder then hit a liner to right, and Hermida charged but failed to make the catch. The ball rolled past him, allowing Fielder to reach third.

Notes: The Marlins placed RHP Anibal Sanchez (right shoulder discomfort) on the 15-day disabled list. Earlier, Florida designated RHP Hayden Penn for assignment and recalled RHP Tim Wood from Triple-A New Orleans. The team also recalled RHP Rick VandenHurk from a rehab assignment and optioned him to New Orleans. ... The Brewers moved RHP David Riske (elbow surgery) from the 15- to the 60-day DL. ... Milwaukee closer Trevor Hoffman is the first pitcher 40 or older to begin a season with at least 16 consecutive scoreless innings since the Angels' Art Fowler threw 17 straight in 1963. ... The four-game series drew 45,975, an average of 11,494.