HOUSTON -- J.A. Happ reached a miserable milestone in his awful season.
The Brewers got a 3-0 lead off the Astros' left-hander in the first inning on an RBI double by Ryan Braun, and a two-run single by Casey McGehee and Milwaukee went on to an easy 8-1 win over Houston on Friday night.
Happ (4-14) allowed seven hits, six earned runs and he struck out three and walked two. He has one victory in his last 11 decisions.
Happ, acquired in last season's trade to the Phillies for Roy Oswalt, is the first Astros pitcher to allow five or more earned runs in eight straight starts. Happ recorded his last quality start -- three or fewer earned runs in at least six innings -- on June 3 at San Diego.
"I don't think it's back to the drawing board; I don't think it's that drastic," he said. "I threw a lot of pitches, they took a lot of pitches, and they fouled off a lot of good ones. I've got a find a way to get them to put it in play on the ground somewhere.
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"That will be the goal for the next start."
When that might be remains to be seen. Astros manager Brad Mills said the team will discuss what is next for the beleaguered southpaw.
"We are going to talk about some things and see if that is the route we need to go as far as getting things ironed out," Mills said. "That is definitely the way we want to go about things and do things.
"We'll talk about some things to see if we can get him back to being where he needs to be and throwing the way he is certainly capable."
Yovani Gallardo (13-7) allowed four hits over eight innings as Milwaukee won for the ninth time in 10 games. It was Gallardo's seventh straight decision over Houston and he boosted his career record to 10-2 against the Astros.
Gallardo struck out six and walked one.
Houston got three hits and one run off Gallardo in the second inning. After that, he didn't allow another hit until J.B. Shuck singled in the fifth in his first major league at-bat.
"It was exciting, my first at-bat in the big leagues," said Shuck, promoted Thursday from AAA Oklahoma City. "The crowd was pretty good, a good amount of people here, and I just went up there and tried to slow everything down, do what I do, and just try to hit a single, hit the ball up the middle."
Corey Hart hit his 16th homer in the sixth inning off Aneury Rodriguez. It stretched Milwaukee's lead to 7-1.
The Astros loaded the bases with one out in the second inning. Carlos Lee and J.D. Martinez each singled. Brian Bogusevic sacrificed the runners up and Clint Barmes walked. Humberto Quintero's line drive to center field scored Lee but Happ struck out and Jason Bourgeois flew out to end the rally.
The Brewers got three more runs in the third after Happ loaded the bases on a single by Braun, double by Prince Fielder and a walk to McGehee.
The runs scored on singles by Yuniesky Betancourt and Jonathon Lucroy and a sacrifice fly by Felipe Lopez for a 6-1 lead.
Notes
The Brewers got 11 hits, giving them at least 10 hits in seven consecutive games. ... Craig Counsell's single in the ninth snapped an 0-for-45 streak. ... The Astros purchased Shuck's contract from Triple-A Oklahoma City prior to the game. OF Luis Durango was designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster. ... Milwaukee is 29-18 against the NL Central this season. ... Happ surrendered five runs (two earned) and a season-high 10 hits in five innings against Milwaukee in his last outing. Happ has yielded at least five runs in each of his last eight starts. ... LHP Chris Narveson (7-6) starts in the middle game of the three-game set on Saturday against RHP Brett Myers (3-11). ... Narveson makes his 23rd start this season and has 12 quality starts. He is 0-2 in six starts against the Astros. ... Myers will try to snap a five-game losing streak.
