Lamb provides offense for Houston

HOUSTON (AP) -- If he keeps pitching the way he did Sunday, Pete Munro's manager might start remembering his name.

Munro pitched seven shutout innings, and Mike Lamb drove in three runs with a pair of doubles to lead the Houston Astros over the Milwaukee Brewers 9-1 Sunday.

After giving up a pair of singles to lead off the second inning, Munro (2-2) settled down and retired 13 of his next 15 batters. He scattered six hits.

"I think Munoz, I mean, Munro pitched super," manager Phil Garner said. "I guess I ought to learn his name, shouldn't I. He did a great job of keeping them shut down."

Munro matched is low for walks with none and had a season-high five strikeouts.

"It was my best outing stuff-wise," Munro said. "I was throwing strikes with everything. My results were, obviously, the best as well. No walks is always a plus for me. And we played good defense also."

Munro impressed the Brewers, who are 3-8 since the All-Star break.

"He did what we thought he would do and what he wanted to do," manager Ned Yost said. "He mixed it up. He handcuffed us pretty good."

Doug Davis (9-9), who gave up six runs and nine hits in six innings, has lost three straight decisions and four of five.

"He's not throwing bad," Yost said. "He just made some pitches that he didn't want to make with men on base. He's not throwing the ball awful. It's just a mistake here and there."

Davis agreed.

"I had two missed pitches that they took advantage of," Davis said. "You can't do that against those hitters. They were both fastballs that were supposed to be up but were right down the middle. I'm in a slump. A bit of a funk. I wasn't getting the outside call and I was falling behind. I'm just making mistakes."

Houston has won four of its last five games, improving to 5-5 since Garner replaced Jimy Williams as manager at the All-Star break. The Astros had 12 hits, five of them doubles.

Houston took a 4-0 lead in the third on Lamb's bases-loaded double off the left-field scoreboard and Morgan Ensberg's two-run single.

Lamb, who started at first to give Jeff Bagwell a day off, made it 5-0 in the fifth with an RBI double. Adam Everett doubled in another run in the sixth.

Jeff Kent was ejected by plate umpire Chris Guccione in the seventh after arguing a called strike two on a pitch Kent thought was low. Kent kicked and threw dirt on home plate before he left, but didn't stay around after the game to talk with reporters.

"Jeff is a very intense player," Garner said. "We thought that pitch was low and that he had called some other low strikes before that. Jeff just stepped out of the batter's box because he had to get his head right, but the umpire asked him to get back in the box. After that, they had a little miscommunication, I think."

Jose Vizcaino came in for Kent and hit an RBI double on the next pitch. Matt Kinney threw a run-scoring wild pitch, and Brad Ausmus homered for a 9-0 lead.

Lyle Overbay hit an RBI single in the eighth off Mike Gallo.

Game notes
The Brewers have not won a series in Houston since 1997, going 0-13-2 in series. ... Davis went 0-for-2 and is 0-for-42 at the plate this season. It is the longest hitless streak at the start of the season since Bill Hands of the Chicago Cubs went 0-for-56 in 1972, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Hands got a hit in his 57th at-bat.