Milwaukee Brewers at Pittsburgh Pirates 6:05 pm PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- The Pittsburgh Pirates play their third home opener at PNC Park Monday when they open a three-game series with the winless Milwaukee Brewers. Pittsburgh has split its previous two home openers. It suffered an 8-2 loss to the Cincinnati Reds in 2001 and then ended an eight-game losing streak in home openers with a 1-0 victory over the Reds last season. The Pirates enter their home opener 5-1 for the second straight season. Before winning five of their first six games in 2002, they hadn't started off 5-1 in 19 years. Pittsburgh rebounded from Saturday's lopsided loss at Philadelphia with Sunday's 2-0 win. Kris Benson allowed six hits and struck out six in seven innings and Kenny Lofton and Jason Kendall had two hits apiece. Reggie Sanders was 0-for-4, but is hitting .444 with four homers and 11 RBI. Milwaukee's 0-6 start is the worst in franchise history. In Sunday's 5-0 home loss to the San Francisco Giants, the Brewers stranded 11 runners. Kip Wells (0-0, 6.00 ERA) gets the baseball for the Pirates. He did not gain a decision Weednesday after allowing four runs and eight hits in six innings as the Pirates lost, 7-4, to the Reds on Wednesday. The righthander is 4-1 with a 3.35 ERA in six career starts against the Brewers. He made five of those starts last year and went 3-1 with a 3.13 ERA. Last July 1, Wells held the Brewers without a hit for 7 1/3 innings, but gave up a single and RBI double in the eighth and suffered the loss in a 2-0 setback. Glendon Rusch (0-1) comes off a rough start for Milwaukee. The lefthander was pounded for seven runs and 11 hits in five innings of Wednesday's 7-0 to the St. Louis Cardinals. Rusch has struggled against Pittsburgh. In nine starts and a relief outing against the Pirates, he is 0-6 with a 6.06 ERA. He was 0-3 with a 6.03 ERA against Pittsburgh in five starts last season.