Hunter Brown and Cam Smith Team Up To Sweep Phillies. Take Game Three, 2-1

Brown goes seven scoreless and Smith delivers game-winner in the eighth

How many games can a team with a hospitalized pitching staff continue to win scoring two runs or less?

I must say, the Astros pitching staff displayed a precipitous decline in efficiency today, but somehow managed to win anyway. After executing two shutouts against the Phils in the previous two games, mathematically, the Astros were infinitely worse today, allowing the Phillies to score one run. The eighth inning Phils run almost took the game into extra innings, but Cam Smith’s RBI single in the bottom of the eighth represented yet another one run win, hit in the last at bat, and, of course, with two outs.

Hunter Brown shut out the Phillies for seven innings, allowing three hits, no walks with nine Ks. The Phillies never had a runner in scoring postion against Brown. This marked 23 straight scoreless innings for the Phils against Astros pitching. They finally broke through in the eighth off Bryan King, but Bryan Abreu finished the eighth for King, and earned the win, striking out all four batters he faced.

Can’t forget Yainer Diaz, whose RBI in the second inning represented half of the Astros’ run production.

As Cody posted today, I don’t know how long this can last, but let’s enjoy it while we can. But it’s not like the Astros swept patsies. The first-place Phillies were red-hot coming in, and the Stros faced the their three best starters.

Box Score HERE.