MILWAUKEE (AP) _ Jeromy Burnitz's two-out double in the ninth scored Marquis Grissom and gave the Milwaukee Brewers a 4-3 victory over the Houston Astros on Sunday.

Grissom drew a one-out pinch-hit walk and after James Mouton flied out, Mark Loretta singled off Houston reliever Doug Henry (0-1).

Burnitz smacked Henry's second pitch to deep center. Roger Cedeno, playing exceptionally shallow, was a step too slow as Burnitz's hit bounced on the warning track, chasing Grissom home.

The Brewers, who lost the first two games of the series by a combined 17-3, won for just the third time in 13 games. Geoff Jenkins tied the game 3-3 in the sixth with a three-run homer.

Another strong bullpen outing and six solid innings from starter Jason Bere carried the Brewers. Ray King and David Weathers (2-0) pitched 2 2-3 innings of scoreless relief.

A day after the teams combined for 23 walks in a 10-3 Astros victory, the stray pitches were directed at the batters instead. Three batters were hit in a series of retaliations, and the benches and dugouts cleared in the sixth inning, though no fights broke out.

Richard Hidalgo hit a three-run homer in the second inning off Bere, who walked five batters but mostly stayed out of trouble. He lasted six innings for a Milwaukee staff desperate for a decent start after consecutive short outings from Jaime Navarro and Everett Stull.

Jenkins tied the game in the sixth with a 425-foot blast over the outfield bleachers in right, his ninth homer of the season. Houston starter Shane Reynolds allowed just two singles in the first five innings before Jenkins' blast, which nearly cleared the chain-link fence separating County Stadium from Miller Park.

Trouble nearly started in the third inning when Bere hit Hidalgo with a pitch squarely between the numbers on his back. It was Hidalgo's first at-bat since his homer.

In the bottom of the inning, Reynolds, one of the game's best control pitchers, threw behind Loretta on a 2-2 count and then plunked Burnitz.

Two pitches after Jenkins' tying homer three innings later, Reynolds nearly hit Charlie Hayes, who stepped toward the mound and exchanged words as both dugouts and bullpens emptied. There were no punches or ejections, and Reynolds then walked Hayes.

The Astros threatened in the top of the ninth when Cedeno and Ken Caminiti singled and stole bases against Weathers. But Lance Berkman, in his first game since being recalled from Triple-A New Orleans, flied out to center to end the inning.

Notes: Jenkins threw out Houston catcher Tony Eusebio at the plate to end the second inning. It was his fourth outfield assist this season. ... Slumping Milwaukee third baseman Jose Hernandez was bumped to eighth in the order. Hernandez, who signed a three-year, $10 million contract before the season, was hitting .181 with one homer and six RBIs before going 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout. ... Juan Acevedo made his Brewers debut and walked two batters in 1-3 inning of work. He missed the season's first four weeks while rehabilitating from a variety of minor injuries, including excessive nosebleeds.