Major League Baseball

Fielder lifts Brewers to win over Astros

Published Sep. 20, 2009 4:44 a.m. ET

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Prince Fielder was happy to finally get Milwaukee's RBI record.

His sacrifice fly in the eighth inning allowed him to set the club mark for RBIs in a season and helped Milwaukee to a 7-2 victory over the Houston Astros on Saturday night.

Fielder's 127 RBIs surpassed current Astros manager Cecil Cooper, who set the mark for Milwaukee with 126 in 1983.

"It was nice to get the job done and drive in a run," said Fielder, beer dripping from his head as a result of the shower he got from his teammates after the game. "I've had a lot of opportunities over the past few days to drive in runs, but just haven't been able to get the job done."

He is now tied with St. Louis Cardinal first baseman Albert Pujols for the National League RBI lead.

"It is a special record," Fielder said. "He (Cooper) was one of the great first baseman for this organization."

Cooper offered his congratulations to Fielder.

"But I'm thinking more about the wins and losses and not some record," he said.

Brewers catcher Jason Kendall said Fielder's new record would probably last for many years.

"He's having an unbelievable year and he's probably going to add a bunch more to the record," Kendall said. "It's really a special milestone."

It was the fourth straight win for Milwaukee, which hadn't won that many in a row since May 16-19. The Brewers broke open a close game with five runs in the seventh inning as they sent 10 batters to the plate.

Jeff Suppan (7-10) gave up five hits and struck out a season high seven in seven strong innings. He dominated the Astros during the middle part of the game, retiring 11 straight before Hunter Pence's homer in the seventh that gave Houston a 2-1 lead.

"That was a strong outing for Suppan," Brewers manager Ken Macha said. "He changed speeds and got a lot of ground balls."

Brian Moehler matched Suppan until the seventh inning, giving up one unearned run in the second inning for the Astros, who lost their sixth straight game.

Cooper said he was trying to match up his bullpen against the Brewers.

"I was going to try and give (Moehler) him a chance to go out in the seventh and get a couple outs," he said. "After the leadoff base hit we thought it was best to go (get him). I liked my match-ups, but it just didn't work out for us."

Kendall led off the inning with a bloop single - the first of seven straight batters to reach base against five different Astros pitchers. Moehler was replaced by Tim Byrdak, who gave up a bunt single to pinch hitter Jason Bourgeois and walked Felipe Lopez to load the bases.

Sammy Gervacio replaced Byrdak and gave up a two-run single to Jody Gerut. Ryan Braun followed with a single to right to drive in Lopez. Prince Fielder then singled to center to load the bases. Casey McGehee lined a single to drive in the last two runs.

Byrdak (1-2) took the loss for the Astros.

The Astros got on the board first grabbing a 1-0 lead in the second inning on Chris Johnson's RBI ground out. The Brewers came back to tie the game in the bottom of the second on J.J. Hardy's double, his first extra base hit since being recalled from Triple-A Nashville Sept. 1.

Notes

Carlos Lee's second-inning double extended his hitting streak to a season-high 11 games. ... The Brewers activated RHP Seth McClung from the 15-day disabled list prior to the game. McClung had been sidelined since July 25 with a sprained right elbow. ... The Astros lost for the 17th time in the team's last 22 games at Miller Park.