HOUSTON ? Lucas Harrell made the most of his debut with the Houston Astros, but the bullpen couldn't make it stand up.
Harrell, claimed off waivers from the Chicago White Sox on July 8, yielded three hits and no runs in 5 1-3 innings in his fourth career start overall after being called up from Triple-A Oklahoma City. He left with the Astros leading 2-0, but Houston's relievers couldn't hold the lead.
Prince Fielder had four hits, including a two-run homer in the ninth, and the Milwaukee Brewers scored all their runs in the last three innings to rally for an 8-2 victory Friday.
Harrell, who had a 1-0 career record with a 5.28 ERA in 11 games in the majors, said he was a little nervous and excited, but when he got through the feelings, things went well.
"I felt like just getting back there," Harrell said. "I had an extra day from my last start. I got in a groove a little later on out there."
Houston manager Brad Mills said Harrell pitched well to get into the sixth inning against the Brewers' difficult lineup.
"You don't like, want to make a big mistake to a guy like Ryan Braun or Prince Fielder because they will make you pay for it," Harrell said. "I feel like the few times I got in the situation I had to make the pitch I made the pitch."
Braun was impressed with Harrell.
"He kept the ball down in the zone," Braun said. "I thought he had a really good fastball, he had a really good slider-cutter that he was throwing at any time. He threw some really good changeups to lefties and really kept us off balance. He really threw the ball well."
Braun didn't get to Harrell, but he did get to reliever David Carpenter with the go-ahead, two-run single in the seventh inning to help the NL Central leaders snap a three-game skid and end Houston's four-game winning streak.
Casey McGehee had a two-run shot in the eighth inning to stretch the lead to 5-2 and Nyjer Morgan scored in the ninth before Fielder's 31st homer.
Trailing 2-0 entering the seventh, Milwaukee got consecutive two-out singles by pinch-hitter Taylor Green and Corey Hart.
The Astros looked to have a chance to get out of the seventh when Hart hit a high popup foul that Jimmy Paredes was in position to catch. But it bounced off a beam on the roof and out of his reach, and Hart capitalized on his second chance with a single.
"You'd like to have it not hit the roof," Mills said. "Had it not hit the roof there, we might have been able to get out of that thing, but it hit the beam and they were able to keep the inning going with a base hit and wound up getting some big runs there."
Morgan walked to load the bases and chase reliever Aneury Rodriguez (1-6), who was replaced by David Carpenter. A wild pitch by Carpenter allowed Logan Schafer, who made his major league debut pinch-running for Green, to score and cut the lead to 2-1.
Braun's single to left field scored Hart and Morgan to put Milwaukee on top 3-2, but Braun was out on a rundown at second. Fielder, who finished a triple short of the cycle, doubled to start the eighth inning before McGehee's homer to left field.
"I didn't give us a very good chance to finish off that game with a win," Carpenter said. "It's on me. It's not on anybody else."
Milwaukee starter Zack Greinke (14-5) allowed a season-high nine hits with two runs and six strikeouts in six innings.
Brian Bogusevic hit his first career triple in the fourth inning on a ball that landed in deep right center field, just in front of the Astros' bullpen. Paredes followed with an RBI single to put Houston up 1-0. Paredes has seven RBIs in his last 10 games.
A wild pitch allowed Paredes to advance to second before an error on the same play by catcher Jonathan Lucroy let him take third. Clint Barmes followed with a double that scored Paredes and made it 2-0. Greinke limited the damage by retiring the next three Astros.
Carlos Lee and Bogusevic hit consecutive no-out singles in the second inning before Barmes drew a one-out walk to load the bases. Greinke was able to escape that jam when Humberto Quintero grounded into a double play to end the inning. Lee's single extended his hitting streak to a season-high 13 games.
NOTES: Brewers SS Yuniesky Betancourt left the game in the eighth inning with a right elbow bruise after being plunked by Carpenter. ... Milwaukee 2B Rickie Weeks, who has been out since severely spraining his left ankle on July 27, is progressing, but Roenicke said it will still be a while before he's healthy enough to play defense. He did say that he's thought about using him as a pinch-hitter before he's ready to return full time. But he said, even if he decides to use him in that capacity that would still be more than a few days away. ... Hart has a 15-game hitting streak. ... Brewers pitching coach Rick Kranitz wasn't with the team on Friday because his mother is sick. Manager Ron Roenicke doesn't expect him back for this series. ... Milwaukee lefty Chris Narveson (9-6) faces Houston's Bud Norris (6-8) in the second game of the series on Saturday. Narveson last pitched in relief on Wednesday against the Cardinals, his first work as a reliever this season. Norris didn't factor into the decision in his last start despite striking out 10 in seven innings.
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