Hunter Brown’s first six starts of the 2024 season were, for the lack of a better word, dreadful. Absolutely dreadful. A 9.78 ERA and a 5.70 FIP. Strikeouts down, walks up. Following his start against the Guardians on April 30, in which he allowed six earned runs in 5 1⁄3 innings, Brown’s short-term status as a Major League pitcher was in question, at least to me. It wasn’t difficult to envision a situation where Brown would be sent to Sugar Land to work on things if it wasn’t for a lack of pitching depth.
On May 5, Brown introduced a sinker to his repertoire. The results since then have been nothing other than encouraging, posting a 3.05 ERA in his last six starts, including Saturday’s game against the Angels.
Since he started throwing a sinker on May 5, Hunter Brown has a 3.05 ERA across 38.1 innings. He threw six more scoreless innings tonight against the Angels, lowering his season ERA to 5.58. It was 8.89 on May 5. Brown’s 98th and final pitch of the night was a 98.4 mph fastball
— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) June 9, 2024
With Cristian Javier and José Urquidy now out for the season, and Luis García and Lance McCullers Jr. not expected back until later in the summer, it became imperative for Brown to pitch better. While the sample is only 38 1⁄3 innings, the recent results are a step in the right direction. If the Astros have any intent on rebounding this season, Brown’s contributions are not a small factor. The right-hander continued to build on this positive trend on Saturday, shutting out the Angels for six innings.
The lineup also continued its positive trend, scoring six runs against the Angels. Yordan Alvarez collected three hits on the day, including a two-run home run.
Yordan Alvarez avoiding the scoreboard. Nice guy.#Relentless pic.twitter.com/p6DVEuehyh
— Space City Home Network (@SpaceCityHN) June 9, 2024
The Astros’ slugger is now hitting .296/.369/.514 with a 151 wRC+ on the season. For reference, Alvarez was hitting .273/.347/.445 with a 126 wRC+ on April 30. And he’s crushing pretty much everything right now.
Power vs. Power
Ben Joyce threw this pitch 103.9 MPH, and Yordan Alvarez lined it 106.3 MPH for his third extra-base hit of the night. pic.twitter.com/d2c8F8mxgq
— MLB (@MLB) June 9, 2024
Any slump Alvarez was experiencing has become a moot point so far in June. Jose Altuve also picked up two hits. Only one Houston hitter — José Abreu — failed to collect a hit. But, overall, the lineup had a strong game, picking up 11 hits and six runs.
In other news, the bullpen was leaky but did its job. Tayler Scott, Rafael Montero, Bryan Abreu, and Ryan Pressly allowed one run across the final three frames. Of course, the stress level increased briefly with Abreu still having some issues with walks. But, all in all, it was enough to get the job done.
Justin Verlander goes for the sweep against the Angels on Sunday. The Astros also trimmed the AL West deficit to 5 1⁄2 games, trailing the Rangers now only by half a game. Let’s see if they can continue to cut into that deficit.