Guardian grand slam against Josh Hader and Hunter Brown’s worst start in 2025 doom Stros
What goes up, must come down.
And what goes down, must come up.
After the Astros sweep in LA, and hearing about the Cleveland 10-game losing streak coming into Houston, I had a bad feeling about it.
The Guardians are way better than that and were due to come up, and let’s face it, the current Quad-A version of the walking-wounded Astros have been playing way above their pay grade.
And although the Astros showed their usual grit, coming from way behind to bring this one into extra innings, when two of the three All-Stars on the team, starter Hunter Brown and closer Josh Hader, have their worst games of the season, it’s all but over for a team whose roster otherwise looks like a Spring Training split-squad game.
The Guardians got to Brown early from a likely culprit. Jose Ramirez took Brown deep after a Nolan Jones single. Oh well, stuff happens.
It looked manageable after the Astros cut the lead in the bottom of the first on a Jose Altuve sacrifice fly.
Brown settled down in the second but gave up three more runs in the third on two doubles and a two-run single to Jose Schneemann. An intentional walk to Ramirez may have cost the Astros a run.
Brayan Rochio added another run for Cleveland with a solo homer in the fourth, making the score 6-1. But the Astros made the game close with an Altuve two-run double in the fifth. Altuve scored on a sac fly by Victor Caratini, making the score 6-4.
Altuve clears the bases.#BuiltForThis pic.twitter.com/QG8PMjd4lx
— Houston Astros (@astros) July 9, 2025
Brown held the Guardians in the fifth and sixth innings, but the damage had already been done. He ended with six runs in six innings on six hits and three walks, striking out three. He induced only 12 whiffs. Coming into the game with a top-3% avg EV of 85.7, tonight the Guardians managed 93.2 MPH. It was over 100 after the fourth inning. At the game’s start, Brown had a 1.80 ERA. It jumped over forty runs to 2.21. In a tight Cy Young race, this one may have cost Hunter dearly.
If coming back down to Earth was expected of this Astros team, the culprit would probably have to be the Quad-A lineup on a night when Brown is pitching. But the Astros scored 11 runs in the last two games, which has been plenty for this team to win most games with the normal Astros’ penchant for run-prevention.
With Brown on the mound, the Astros needed to win this one, and the offense scored enough for the win if Brown had been on his game. But despite 11 hits and six walks, the Astros were 2-21 with runners in scoring position, stranding 12. But that’s what happens with a lineup of second stringers/minor leaguers hitting 5-9.
The Astros made it exciting in the bottom of the eighth, tying the score on an RBI double by Taylor Trammell and an RBI single by Altuve with two outs.
And in the ninth, Mauricio Dubon hit a two-out double but was stranded when the hero of the LA series, Zack Short, struck out after working a 3-0 count, sending the game into extras.
Josh Hader shut down the Guardians in the ninth but loaded the bases in the tenth inning with one out. He struck out Jonathon Rodriquez for out two on a 3-2 count, but gave up a Crawford Boxes special to Angel Martinez, making the score 10-6. Last year’s bugaboo, the home run ball, has been a recurring problem for Hader in recent weeks, and tonight it cost him the L. This high fly would only have been a homer in Daikin Park. It went 334 feet with an xBA of .110. It would have been an easy flyout in every other ball park but Fenway in Boston.
Go back and read Clack’s article on Hader published earlier today, and tell him to stop cursing the Astros in the comments.
The Guardians scored 10 runs on the Astros’ two All-Star pitchers. In the last two games, they have scored more runs than they scored in total during their 10-game losing streak. But let’s give credit to four Astros with multi-hit games: Cam Smith, Altuve, Dubon, and Trammell. Altuve had three RBI and both hits with runners in scoring position.
By losing tonight against a team coming into Houston on a 10-game losing streak, the Astros lost their first series in their last 14.
It’s also a rare back-to-back loss for the Stros, who now must rely on Quad-A Brandon Walter tomorrow to avoid the sweep. We can’t get Cristian Javier, Luis Garcia, Spencer Arrighetti, Jeremy Pena, Christian Walker, Jake Meyers, and Yordan Alvarez back soon enough. Luckily, the Mariners lost tonight.