Hill will have to make an appearance in Houston to face the charge — third-degree felony for assault on a family member by choking — the Houston district attorney’s office said.

“They get a lot of hits. They scrap. They put the ball in play,” Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. “Sometimes, they may not be driving the ball in the gap but they’re hitting it down the line or hanging in there, fouling off pitches until they get a mistake. They battle. They’re not an easy lineup to get to.”

Chris Snyder put the Astros ahead for good at 5-4 with an RBI single in the seventh off Jose Veras (2-1) after Brian Bogusevic doubled and stole third.

The Astros scored four runs — three earned — on eight hits and four walks in five innings off Milwaukee starter Shaun Marcum.

“He had one real good inning where he looked like himself,” Roenicke said of Marcum’s 1-2/3 third inning. “But you could see him frustrated out on the mound. You could see his command wasn’t what it usually was, his ball was up in the zone a lot. He had that one good inning. I thought he had it going and it would roll in to the next inning but it didn’t. Next inning, it was back to the battle again but he kept us in the ball game and certainly gave us a chance to win.”

Marcum, who struck out seven, missed most of spring training with a sore right shoulder. He left the bases loaded when Chris Johnson flied out ending the first and when Jed Lowrie flied out ending the fourth.

Wilton Lopez (2-0) pitched a 1-2-3 sixth, and Brett Myers got three outs for his third save. Houston, which hadn’t beaten the Brewers since May 1, had 14 hits and won for the third time in 11 game overall. The Astros avoided a three-game sweep.

Martinez boosted the lead to 7-4 in the eighth with a two-run single off Mike McClendon.

Corey Hart hit a solo homer off David Carpenter in the eighth. Wesley Wright got the last out when he induced an inning-ending flyout by to Cesar Izturis to Bogusevic, who made a sliding catch in right-field foul territory with two on.

David Carpenter buzzed Carlos Gomez in seventh. Gomez ducked out of the way and glared at the pitcher. Brewers starter Shaun Marcum had hit Snyder leading off the second.

Astros starter J.A. Happ allowed four runs and seven hits in five innings with eight strikeouts, which tied his season high.

“It was a tough one,” Happ said. “It seemed like both of us out there struggled a little but I really liked the way we battled all game. We had a lot of opportunities and we stayed on them all game. It nice to see us work them the whole game.”

Ryan Braun hit a two-run homer in the first, then singled and the third and scored on Happ’s wild pitch to tie the game 4-4. Travis Ishikawa, filling in at first for Mat Gamel, had homered leading off the second to cut Milwaukee’s deficit to 4-3.

Gamel missed his second consecutive game with a sore shoulder after barreling into catcher Jason Castro on Monday.

Monaco, ranked 16th in the world, captured his fifth career ATP title and his second of the year after a Febuary crown at Vina del Mar. Before that, he had not won an ATP title since 2007. Monaco, who improved to 5-8 in ATP finals, had reached the semi-finals last month at Miami, losing to the eventual winner, world number one Novak Djokovic.

In other matches at the Houston tournament, Tatsuma Ito won an all-Japanese clash with Go Soeda 6-4, 7-5, the first tour-level meeting between the two compatriots.

Ito booked a second-round clash with fourth-seeded Argentinean Juan Monaco.

Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi set up a meeting with third-seeded Feliciano Lopez of Spain with a 6-7 (3/7), 6-2, 6-3 victory over Wayne Odesnik.

Qualifier Horacio Zeballos booked a marquee second-round clash with America’s Davis Cup hero John Isner via a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Romanian Adrian Unger.

Isner, seeded second in Houston, delivered two singles victories, including the clinching four-set win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, in America’s Davis Cup quarterfinal victory over France in Monte Carlo at the weekend.

Isner had beaten Swiss great Roger Federer on clay in the United States’ 5-0 first-round Davis Cup whitewash of Switzerland in February.

He has also beaten world number one Novak Djokovic this year, in the semifinals of the hard-court Indian Wells Masters.

“I’m a much more confident player,” said Isner, who flew in late to Houston and is to open his campaign on Thursday after enjoying a first-round bye.

The victory will boost the 29-year-old to fourth in the world rankings, sending him into the Masters, the first major tournament of the season that starts Thursday at Augusta National, as the highest-ranked American. “It feels great,” Mahan said. “I’m playing good. I’m glad I’m going to Augusta, it’s really a special place and I’m looking forward to going there.”

Mahan’s one-under 71 at Redstone gave him a four-round total of 16-under 272. Pettersson also posted a 71 for 273. South African Louis Oosthuizen, who led by two strokes after the third round, had two double-bogeys in a three-over 75 that left him in third place on 274.

Pettersson, who closed his round with eight straight pars, notched his second runner-up finish of the year, but couldn’t get the victory he needed to secure a berth in the Masters. Three-time major champion Ernie Els also needed a victory to earn an automatic invitation to Augusta. Instead he was poised to miss the Masters for the first time since 1993 after finishing on 10-under.

“It’s not going to change my life, either way,” Els said. “I’ve played many out there. It’s one of those things.” While the Masters could still offer Els a special invitation, he said he wouldn’t accept a last-minute invitation. “To go through all of this, and then get an invite, I wouldn’t take it,” he said.

Mahan’s two birdies on the day came back-to-back at nine and 10. At the par-three ninth he drained a five-foot birdie putt. When Pettersson missed his 19-foot birdie attempt at 10, Mahan had sole possession of the lead. He gave a stroke back with a bogey from a greenside bunker at 14 then saved par from off the green at the par-three 16th, where his pitch on left him a two-footer.

Oosthuizen had opened the door early for those chasing him, starting with a three-putt bogey at the par-four second hole. He bounced back with a 45-foot birdie putt on three, but found a divot with his tee shot at the fifth and ended up missing the green. After a poor chip he two-putted for a double-bogey. At the par-five eighth he hit his approach shot into the scrub en route to a second double-bogey.

The smooth-swinging South African recovered from bogeys on the first two holes to card a six-under-par 66 at the rain-softened Redstone Golf Club in the final PGA Tour event before next week’s Masters.

Mickelson resumed his round at daybreak and birdied both par 5s on the front nine. He strung together eight consecutive one-putt greens before two-putting on No. 10. He then sank a 10-footer for birdie on the par-4 12th.

“The greens were immaculate,” he said. “If you get it in the surface, you’d feel like you’d make the putts.”

Three-time major champion Ernie Els, who must win to qualify for next week’s Masters, completed a 2-under 70 on Friday morning.

Tournament director Steve Timms said Thursday’s storm dumped 1¼ inches of rain on Redstone. The players enjoyed sunny skies and calm conditions Friday morning, though Mickelson said the balls were picking up mud when they hit the fairways.

Officials were allowing players to lift, clean and place their balls in the second round.

Mickelson said a bit of mud on his ball caused an errant approach shot to the par-5 13th, leading to his only bogey of his first round.

“There’s not much you can do about that,” Mickelson said.

Mickelson played with Fred Couples, who won on the Champions Tour last week. Couples, who played at the University of Houston and has made 18 consecutive cuts at the event, shot a 5-under 67.

Ricky Barnes and Houston resident Jeff Maggert completed 66s Thursday. Greg Owen and John Huh each finished 66s Friday morning. Defending PGA champion Keegan Bradley and 2010 British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen joined Couples in the group at 5 under.

Mickelson birdied the par-5 15th, then holed a pitch from behind the 16th green. He was to start his second round an hour after finishing his first, and didn’t mind the long day ahead.

“I like being able to come out and play a lot of holes in one day,” Mickelson said. “If you start playing well, you get a good rhythm, you can make a lot of birdies, especially out here.”

Mickelson says he’s prefers playing a tournament the week before a major to get into a “competitive frame of mind.” He shot 63-65 over the weekend last year to win by three strokes over Chris Kirk and Scott Verplank.

The Houston Open became the run-up event to the Masters in 2007. Timms is hoping to finish the tournament by 5 p.m. Sunday to accommodate not only television, but also the players heading to Augusta.

“We do everything we can operationally to hit that window,” Timms said.

The schedule: The tournament runs Thursday-Sunday. It’ll be broadcast on the Golf Channel from 3 to 6 p.m. ET on Thursday and Friday, and 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. ET on Saturday and Sunday; and on NBC from 3:00 to 6 p.m. ET on Saturday and Sunday.

The field: Getting the slot right ahead of the Masters would make most tournament directors cringe — because a majority of the top players are already on their way to Augusta — but the decision to make Redstone as close to major championship conditions as possible, especially the greens, has paid dividends. Lee Westwood, Steve Stricker and Charl Schwartzel give the Shell Houston Open three of the top 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking. Throw in Phil Mickelson, Graeme McDowell, Johnson Wagner, Kyle Stanley and Hunter Mahan, who also be in the field for one final tuneup, and you have a tournament with a solid group of stars.

The three-time major champion is resigned to the fact that he won’t be at Augusta. The club could still offer a special invitation to Els, like it extended to Greg Norman in 2002. Ryo Ishikawa, a nine-time winner on the Japan Golf Tour, has a special invitation this year.

Houston goalkeeper Tally Hall has pretty much been a brick wall entering his second season as the starter. 7 shots have been fired on Tally and he has tallied a perfect 100% save percentage. Defenders Andre Hainault and Bobby Boswell have both logged 180 minutes each on the season and have been with Tally every step of the way on the two shutouts. Now, the Dynamo are by no means presenting as an offensive juggernaut. The always scary Brad Evans has scored on a penalty kick so far this season but has lacked the usual service that has been lost with the hamstring string strain of defender Corey Ashe. Ashe is probable for Friday night’s game so that might change. Isn’t it about time to stop worrying about the exploits of Brian Ching? He once babysat Kasey Keller…

What I am worried about is that you might be able to have a drink with Mauro Rosales and Eddie Johnson at Sluggers or Fado while the Sounders are facing off against the Dynamo. Mauro has been ruled out with a knee sprain and Eddie remains doubtful with a currently unable to flex, hip flexor injury. It is now being reported after Tuesday’s practice that Adam Johansson will be a game time decision after suffering a hamstring injury.

Now begins the inevitable mix and match that Sigi Schmid has got to get right to keep the team afloat as the depth is tested. Is this Christian Sivebaek’s time to shine on the right side? He delivered several nice crossing balls (giggity) in the last 30 minutes against Toronto FC.

Sportsbook.com has the Sounders as a solid favorite to win this game at -117 (a $5 bet would win $4.25). The underdog Dynamo +310 (a $5 bet would win $15.50), already proving to be the road warriors, will probably put forward maximum effort given that they will have a break of 22 days until their next match against the Chicago Fire on April 15th . For those that just want to see an earnest sporting effort put forth by both squads, Sportsbook.com has the tie at +215 (a $5 bet would win $10.75).