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Astros-Brewers Preview

Sep 20, 2009 - 3:48 AM By ANDY LEFKOWITZ STATS Editor

Houston (70-77) at Milwaukee (72-75), 2:05 p.m. EDT

The Milwaukee Brewers will not be headed to the postseason this year. For that reason, they will soon shut down one of their top young pitchers with an eye toward 2010.

Yovani Gallardo will make his final start of the season Sunday when the Brewers go for a three-game sweep of the Houston Astros in the clubs' last meeting of 2009.

After missing almost all of 2008 with a devastating knee injury, Gallardo (12-12, 3.84 ERA) can match Braden Looper for the team lead in wins, and leads Milwaukee with 180 2-3 innings over 29 starts in his first full year of action.

Brewers manager Ken Macha said Friday that the 23-year-old Gallardo will be on a pitch count.

"We have a number in mind, but that can be adjusted," Macha said of the right-hander, who also leads the club with 91 walks and 197 strikeouts.

Gallardo has recorded 110 strikeouts at Miller Park, and will try to become the fourth Milwaukee pitcher with 200 in a season to join Ben Sheets, Doug Davis and Teddy Higuera.

Felipe Paulino (2-9. 6.06) gets the start for Houston, again looking for his first win in almost three months.

The right-hander, who defeated Detroit on June 27, is 0-5 with a 6.97 ERA in his last eight appearances, including five starts. Last Sunday, he held Pittsburgh to one run and six hits with seven strikeouts over five innings in the Astros' 2-1 loss.

"I thought he pitched good," Houston manager Cecil Cooper said. "There must be some kind of jinx for Paulino. Again he goes out there and pitches, but doesn't get any run support."

Paulino has pitched 31 innings following his most recent win, but has gotten just three runs of support. In three career appearances against the Brewers, he's 0-2 with a 9.69 ERA and backed with only three runs.

The Astros haven't had much success recently when traveling to Milwaukee, either. Pinch-hitter Jody Gerut's two-run single started a five-run seventh inning to lead the Brewers to a 7-2 victory Saturday.

Milwaukee (73-75) is 17-5 at home against Houston dating back to April 21, 2007.

Prince Fielder's sacrifice fly in the eighth was his 127th RBI, breaking Cooper's single-season franchise record set in 1983.

"It is a special record," said Fielder, who is tied with St. Louis' Albert Pujols for the major league lead in RBIs. "He (Cooper) was one of the great first baseman for this organization."

Fielder needs one homer to reach 40 for the second time in three years.

Former Brewer Carlos Lee extended his hitting streak to a season-high 11 games and Hunter Pence hit a solo homer as Houston (70-78) dropped its sixth in a row. Cooper's club had a season-high seven-game slide from May 21-27.