Before Tuesday, Hunter Brown was statistically one of baseball’s best pitchers, sporting a 1.80ish ERA. After his last two starts, including today's dud, his ERA sits at 2.43. In his last two games, Brown has given up 10 runs in 11 innings. He had allowed only seven runs in his previous seven starts.
With an injury-decimated lineup and starting rotation, the performances of a few stars, especially All-Stars Hunter Brown and Josh Hader, have been indispensable to the Astros’ current five-game lead in the AL West going into the All-Star break.
In recent weeks, Hader has reverted to his 2024 bugaboo of allowing homers; last night, his mistake put the game into extra innings, and in his prior appearance, it put an L on his record.