MILWAUKEE -- Rick Helling's comeback has made him a
factor in the National League playoff chase.
Helling tossed seven strong innings to earn his first win as a
starter in over two years as the Milwaukee Brewers posted a 4-2
win in the rubber game of a three-game series with the Houston
Astros.
The win pulled the Brewers within 5 1/2 games of the NL wild
card-leading Astros, who remained one-half game up on the
Florida Marlins.
A 20-game winner in 1998 with Texas, Helling (2-0) spent part of
2004 in the Minnesota Twins' organization but struggled through
injuries before quitting in June. Milwaukee signed the
righthander in January and now is being rewarded for its
patience.
"I haven't been around since '03 so it's hard to win games when
you're not around," Helling said. "I'm just happy to be back up
and contributing. It was a long road back for me but I worked
hard and stuck with it. The main thing is I'm happy to be back
up here and helping the team win."
Helling's effort helped the Brewers (71-72), who haven't had a
winning season since 1992, win for the fifth time in their last
seven games.
"We've got 20 games or so left and if we finish strong, we'll be
right where we want to be," Helling said.
In his fourth start with the club, Helling yielded five hits and
three walks and extended his scoreless streak to 14 1/3
innings. He struck out a season-high six and left with a 4-0
lead after throwing 98 pitches - 68 for strikes.
"Today was a good day," Helling said. "This is the least amount
of curveballs I've thrown my entire career. I had a pretty good
cutter and my fastball, I was locating it pretty well. I was
able to keep them off-balance."
"He's done a real nice job with his opportunity to come in
here," Milwaukee manager Ned Yost said. "He's pitched very, very
well every time he's gone out there."
Helling worked out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the top of
the third inning and stranded a pair of runners in the seventh
to preserve the advantage.
"When I got in a couple of jams, we were able to make a couple
of pitches to get out of it," Helling said. "(Catcher Chad
Moeller)
did a great job back there calling the game."
"What he really did well was pitch out of jams," Astros catcher
Brad Ausmus said. "He's a veteran pitcher. He's been in those
situations before. He kept his wits about him and got out of
them."
Rookie Dana Eveland allowed a pair of runs in the eighth, but
Derrick Turnbow got the last three outs for his 31st save in 34
chances.
Carlos Lee gave Helling a 1-0 lead with a bloop RBIs single in
the first and rookie Rickie Weeks belted a two-run shot in the
fourth off Houston starter Roy Oswalt (17-12).
"When you go up against a great pitcher like him, you don't look
for a certain pitch," Weeks said. "You try to look for a pitch
over the plate that you can drive and I got one."
"Today was the first time I faced him and I tried to get a read
on him the first and second at-bats," Oswalt said. "It was a
curveball down that he went down and got."
In the sixth, Moeller executed a squeeze to score Bill Hall and
make it 4-0.
"I wasn't worried about a pitch out, I was just nervous about
putting the ball in play," Yost said of his decision to utilize
the squeeze. "But I knew it was something we had to do to try to
get a run there. We gambled and Moeller did a great job of
getting the bunt down."
Oswalt, who had allowed just two runs in 15 innings against
Milwaukee this year, was reached for four and eight hits in six
frames Sunday. He struck out five and walked one for the
Astros, who finished their road trip 4-2.
Houston returns home to open a four-game set with Florida on
Monday.
"It's not a wasted day, because we're one day closer (to the end
of the season)," Astros manager Phil Garner said after seeing
the wild card race tighten.
"You can't look at the standings," Oswalt said. "You have to win
and not worry about other teams."