For a third day in a row, Astros pitching puts the team on their back
After back-to-back days of shutting the Philadelphia Phillies out, the Houston Astros came out for the third game of the series and
This whole series has been about pitching, and Hunter Brown continued that trend today. His seven shutout innings moved his ERA down an MLB-best 1.74.
Hunter Brown’s final line:
7 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 9 K, 96-61 TP-S
It wasn’t till Brown was done for the day that Philadelphia was able to get anyone across the plate.
Having not had a runner to reach second all game, the Phillies took advantage of Bryan King out of the pen, who allowed a one-out walk and single to put runners on first and third. This allowed a sac-fly to tie the game in the eighth and give the Phillies their first run of the series.
The one run was all they were able to get though for the entire series. After the run scored, Espada turned back to his bullpen and handed the ball to Bryan Abreu, who got the four-out win, including four strikeouts.
Facing another top arms in the Nations League, Cristopher Sánchez, the Astros offense, for the third game in a row, could barely score runs. But thankful, they didn’t need much for the third game in a row.
The Astros took an early, but small, lead in this one. After a leadoff-single from Jake Meyers and a hit by pitch to Cam Smith put runners on first and second, Yainer Diaz singled into center with one-out to put the Astros up 1-0 in the second.
Mayer’s leadoff single started a string of three-straight innings with a leadoff hit, yet none of them were able to cross home. Against Sánchez, the Astros’ hitters couldn’t do a thing, getting just five hits off him while striking out 11 times.
Once the Phillies tied the game up in the top of the eighth, the Astros offense turned it back on in nearly the exact same way as the second inning. After a one-out hit by pitch and single put two on, Smith came through with an RBI-single to left, giving the Astros a 2-1 lead, enough for the win.
Through one-half of the regular season, the Astros are 48-33, good for first in the American League West, leading the Seattle Mariners by 6 games. They rank third in the AL in run-differential (+50) and are 30-13 at home and 18-20 on the road.
The Phillies first run in the eighth inning marked not just their first run of the series, but their first run against the Astros in over 35 innings dating all the way back to the eighth inning of their game against the Phillies back on August 27, 2024.
The Astros stay with the National League teams as they welcome back two former Astros and the Chicago Cubs for the first time this season. That three-game series kicks off Friday at 7:10.