Hunter Brown shines, Astros win 7-0

Brown puts together his best start to move his ERA down to just 1.16

The Astros are back to .500 at 11-11 after a shutout, 7-0 win over the Toronto Blue Jays. They have not been above .500 once this season.

It started out as a pitching duel at first, with Astros starter Hunter Brown and Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman combining for only two hits through the first four innings, but it was the fifth when the Astros bats finally came alive.

After a strikeout to leadoff the bottom half of the fifth, back-to-back-to-back hits from Cam Smith, Brendan Rodgers and Zach Dezenzo, hitting in the seven, eight and nine hole, put the Astros on the board first with Dezenzo’s RBI-double, just his second RBI of the season. This flipped over the lineup for Jose Altuve, who’s second double of the season plated two more.

An intentional walk to Yordan Alverez, who was walked despite having a career 0-11 record at the plate against Gausman, put Issac Paredes at the plate to hit an opposite-field RBI-single for the sixth-straight baserunner and a 4-0 lead for the Astros. After just three baserunners in the first four innings, one hit and two walks, the Astros topped that in one inning.

The next run for Houston came in the seventh after a one-out base hit was stretched into a double thanks to a great slide from Dezenzo, his second double of the night. He came around to score thanks to a lefty-lefty RBI-single from Alvarez and a fantastic slide into home from Dezenzo, putting the Astros up 5-0.

The Astros added the final touch in the eighth after a bases-loaded double from Rodgers, his second hit of the game, plated two more, finishing with a 7-0 win.

With his single in the fifth, Smith moves his hit-streak up to four games, showing growth at the plate as the season progresses, to go along with glove, which seems to be getting better in right field game-by-game, with already two defensive runs saved (DRS).

This hitting was all to back up excellent pitching on the Astros end, especially from Brown, who delivered his best start of the season. His seven shutout innings extends his scoreless-streak to 24 innings, moving him into top-5 for the longest shutout streak in franchise history. His nine strikeouts is also the most Brown has had in a game since his August 11th start against the Boston Red Sox in 2024, where he struck out nine.

Hunter Brown’s final line:

7 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, 96-62 (Total pitches-Strikes)

After Brown was finished, Astros fans got a surprise when the first man out of the pen was Astros 2016 first round pick Forrest Whitley to make his season debut. After getting drafted at 18-years-old, Whitley didn’t make his major league debut until 2024, when he pitched in three games before getting injured.

Two shutout innings from Whitley closed out the game, with his fastball averaging around 96 MPH, giving the Astros the 7-0 win and their second shutout of the year. In his first outing of the year, Whitley delivered for the Astros better than he ever has in his career, going two shutout with two strikeouts.

Outside of Brown, Dezenzo was the player of the game. In just his eighth game of the year, he racked up a team-high two runs scored on two hits, both of them doubles, to go along with a walk.

Tomorrow, Houston will try and repeat this once again with Ronel Blanco looking to make a bounce back start after allowing three runs to the St. Louis Cardinals. That game will start at 7:10.