"Any doubt Ryan Braun isn't all the way back from the left lower hamstring/upper calf injury he suffered a little over a month ago was erased in the fourth inning of the Milwaukee Brewers' 8-1 win over the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park on Friday night.

Braun stole second on a strikeout by Prince Fielder , his first steal since June 29. Braun had been under orders to keep the all-out running to a minimum whenever possible after he missed 10 games and played only parts of others in July in an attempt to keep the injury from worsening.

"He's been telling me he's ready to go," manager Ron Roenicke said. "We've been trying to play it a little safe. Last night he said, 'No, I want to go.' So that's good to see."

Coming out of the all-star break in mid-July, Braun essentially was jogging out ground balls at the behest of the team's medical staff. Then, as the injury improved, he was given the go-ahead to steal in certain counts.

In Friday's game, Braun stole second on a 2-2 count - one in which he really had to let loose to beat the throw from Astros catcher Humberto Quintero .

Then Saturday in the third inning, Braun was in the midst of trying to steal second on a 0-1 pitch to Prince Fielder , but Fielder singled to right, allowing Braun to almost jog to third. In the sixth inning, though, Braun went full-out to score from first on Fielder's double.

"We've been trying to where it was a 3-1 or 3-2 count we'd let him go," Roenicke said of stealing. "It's kind of a little safer - you don't have to have that great jump. We've been doing that for, gosh, probably five, six days.

"Then (Friday) he came to me and said, 'I'm ready to steal.' So that's nice.""