Phoenix ? Left-hander Manny Parra and right-hander Dave Bush are making it hard for the Milwaukee Brewers to choose between them.

Parra turned in five brilliant innings, and Bush was strong the rest of the way as Milwaukee beat the Kansas City Royals, 8-3, on Saturday.

J.J. Hardy and Corey Hart each hit a three-run homer and finished with four RBIs.

Parra and Bush both performed well in the ongoing competition for spots in Milwaukee’s rotation.

“Nobody blinked,” manager Ned Yost said.

Parra, who is 2-0 with a 0.64 ERA this spring, limited the Royals to an unearned run. He walked one and struck out seven.

Bush went the final four innings, allowing three hits and two runs with no walks and five strikeouts. He actually threw five innings, going an unofficial 10th inning as the teams went overtime to give pitchers some extra work.

Parra and Bush are in a five-man competition with right-handers Carlos Villanueva and Claudio Vargas and lefty Chris Capuano for the three rotation spots behind Ben Sheets and Jeff Suppan.

Two of the five could wind up in Triple-A.

Right-hander Yovani Gallardo, expected to be in the season-opening rotation, had minor knee surgery at the start of camp and is still on the comeback trail.

Gil Meche started for the Royals and went five innings, allowing six hits and three runs with two walks and eight strikeouts.

His lone blemish was Hart’s three-run homer in the fourth, which followed a pair of walks with none out.

Hideo Nomo, trying to make the Royals staff as a long-shot candidate, did not fare well, allowing seven hits and five runs in three innings.

Craig Counsell had three hits for the Brewers.

Mike Aviles and Ryan Shealy had two hits apiece for Kansas City.