MILWAUKEE -- The last time Colin Rea started and won a Major League game before Tuesday, Barack Obama was president, and Jonathan Lucroy was Milwaukee’s catcher.

It was a good time for Rea to change that.

Delivering 5 1/3 solid innings for an injury-battered team in need of a strong start, the 32-year-old journeyman held Houston scoreless into the sixth and was backed by Joey Wiemer’s booming home run and Owen Miller’s heads-up baserunning -- literally -- before the Brewers busted loose with a four-run eighth inning and a 6-0 win at American Family Field that snapped the Astros’ eight-game winning streak.

Miller’s two-run homer in the eighth continued a torrid month of May and sealed Rea’s first victory in the big leagues since he picked up a win in relief for the Cubs on Aug. 30, 2020. The last time Rea started a game and won was July 1, 2016, when he worked six innings for the Padres against the Yankees. 

“I had no idea it was that long,” Rea said. “It feels good. It was definitely important to get that team win.”

Has he done any thinking about his winding journey through the game?

“I’m too in the moment, is the short answer,” Rea said. “Maybe it’s something I’ll look back on when I’m done playing.”

Four weeks after winning that start against the Yankees in 2016, Rea was traded to the Marlins, blew out his elbow in his first start for Miami and was traded right back to the Padres.

Since then, Rea has bounced from the Padres to the Cubs to Japan and to the Brewers for one appearance in relief of Corbin Burnes in the penultimate game of 2021 when Milwaukee was resting up for the postseason – an outing that stood out to Brewers manager Craig Counsell and pitching coach Chris Hook. Then it was back to Japan before Rea returned to the Brewers last winter on a Minor League deal.

By April, Rea was in the big leagues, replacing the injured Brandon Woodruff. After a brief demotion to Triple-A Nashville, he’s back again, replacing the injured Wade Miley. Rea has gone from organizational depth to a key piece for a team with four starting pitchers on the injured list. He has the stuff; Rea topped out at 94.8 mph against the Astros.

The trick is to follow one of baseball’s old adages: Don’t try to do too much.

“We've all been in that spot when you're struggling as a team, you want to help your team, right?” Counsell said earlier in the day. “At the same time, I think when you get into the moment of heated battle, you've got to go back to what you're trained to do, and the process. That's what's going to cause you some success.”

Rea found a lot of success on Tuesday, starting with strikeouts of Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman and then allowing only one runner into scoring position over the first five innings. 

When Rea walked Yordan Alvarez with one out in the sixth and surrendered a soft single to Kyle Tucker, Counsell turned to his best right-handed bullpen escape artist, Joel Payamps, who teamed with Elvis Peguero, Peter Strzelecki and Bryse Wilson to preserve the Brewers’ fifth shutout victory -- their first since April 16 in San Diego. 

Half of Milwaukee’s runs came from Miller, whose two-run homer in the eighth was just as big as a self-manufactured run in the fourth, when he singled off Astros starter J.P. France, then stole second base and scored from there when catcher Yainer Diaz’s pickoff attempt struck Miller on the head or chest -- he wasn’t sure which -- and caromed into center field. 

“Sharing the credit there should be both base coaches,” said Counsell, referring to Quintin Berry (first base) and Jason Lane (third base). “France, their starter, was very quick to the plate where nobody is running on him. But he got in a little pattern, and ‘Q’ noticed it. It got us a stolen base there. Then Jason had a great send there, an aggressive send, the right send in the right spot.”

Rea and the relievers never let the Astros answer. 

“[France] threw the ball well, but their guy threw the ball better,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said of Rea. 

Rea will get to throw more. The Brewers are at least two weeks away from getting Eric Lauer back from the injured list and Woodruff, Miley and Aaron Ashby are at minimum a month beyond that. 

“I take it a start at a time,” Rea said. “I don’t think anything is really guaranteed.”