MILWAUKEE – Matt Kinney barely made the Milwaukee Brewers’ rotation out of spring training. So far, he’s been their best starter.

Kinney, former Bangor High star, pitched seven scoreless innings and Richie Sexson and Geoff Jenkins hit consecutive home runs as Milwaukee beat the Houston Astros 4-2 Thursday night.

Kinney (2-1) beat out Ruben Quevedo late in spring training for the final spot in the rotation. Coming off a 3-2 victory over Curt Schilling and Arizona last week, Kinney held Houston to four singles while walking one and striking out six.

“Matt Kinney was on the attack from the first pitch on,” Milwaukee manager Ned Yost said. “He went out there with confidence in his fastball and confidence in his breaking ball.”

A day after the Brewers lost 15-2 to St. Louis, Kinney and Valerio De Los Santos shut down a Houston lineup missing Lance Berkman, Craig Biggio and Jeff Kent.

“He threw a lot of strikes,” Jeff Bagwell said of Kinney. “He got ahead of a lot of guys throwing in and out. Myself, he didn’t give me a good pitch to hit all night.”

Kinney credited catcher Eddie Perez with calling a good game, and used his fastball mainly to throw first-pitch strikes to 14 of the 25 batters he faced.

“You kind of get on the attack a little bit,” Kinney said. “It makes it a lot easier than being down 3-1 and the hitters are on the attack.”

Despite the success, Kinney is slated to make only one more start before joining the bullpen for a couple of weeks. Due to days off, the Brewers will need only four starters for a stretch in late April and early May.

Milwaukee’s win combined with Cincinnati’s loss puts the Brewers in fifth place in the NL Central, the first time they’ve been out of the cellar since being tied for fifth on May 18, 2002. The Brewers have won six of 10 after losing their first six games.