Rookie shows poise in repeat dominant outing
HOUSTON — When Astros pitcher Hunter Brown hit Minnesota’s Matt Wallner with a full-count curveball Sunday in Minneapolis, supervisor Dusty Baker later pulled him apart and supplied some recommendation. Call it a teachable second, if you’ll.
“Dusty came to me and said, ‘Hey man, you’ve got to decide when that is the right pitch,’” Brown mentioned.
So when Rangers first baseman Nathaniel Lowe got here to the plate Saturday evening with the bases loaded and one out within the third inning, Brown confirmed confidence in his energy curve whereas displaying the center of a tightrope walker. Lowe swung by means of the bender for a key strikeout within the Astros’ 8-2 win over the Rangers at Minute Maid Park.
“I think in that spot, it was the right pitch. I had to execute it, and I did,” Brown mentioned. “There’s confidence in understanding when is the time to take the prospect and when is just not. And he is a extremely good hitter.”
For the second begin in a row, he didn’t enable an earned run in seven innings, reducing his ERA to 1.93 by means of 18 2/3 innings this 12 months. He’s the primary Astros pitcher since Scott Kazmir (2015) to not quit an earned run in back-to-back begins of least seven innings, and he’s the one pitcher within the Majors to do it this 12 months.
“He’s pitching with a lot of determination, a lot of fire and making pitches when he had to,” Baker mentioned. “We had that one inning where we didn’t play too well on defense. The first thing he says when he comes in is, ‘Hey, we got a lot of game left.’ That’s a very mature statement. He’s pitching great. The key in that game is that 3-2 curveball. It takes a lot of confidence and nerve to throw that to a real good hitter.”
Brown certainly walked a tightrope above catastrophe within the third inning, when a fielding error by second baseman Mauricio Dubón sparked a Rangers rally. A detailed name at first that wasn’t overturned on replay and a success batter solely prolonged the inning, however the strikeout of Lowe was large. Adolis García adopted with an infield hit, however Brown dug deep for a strikeout of Josh Jung to finish the inning.
“There was a lot of ballgame left,” Brown mentioned. “Plus, typically you simply get baseballed. Some stuff occurs, and also you’ve bought to battle by means of it and attempt to win the sport.”
Innings like that may usually derail a pitcher, however Brown shook it off and wound up retiring 12 of the ultimate 14 batters he confronted. He slapped his glove in pleasure when he got here off the mound after the highest of the seventh after which watched the Astros rating 5 occasions within the backside of the inning. That included a bases-loaded stroll to Yordan Alvarez, giving him 20 RBIs for the season, and a two-run double by Jeremy Peña.
“I made a good pitch to [Marcus] Semien, and he got a ground ball I was looking for and ended up getting through,” Brown mentioned whereas dissecting the third. “[With] García, I made a great pitch to him, and he hit a weak floor ball and finally ends up getting a success. That form of stuff you may’t management. You management the pitches that you just make, and that’s what you concentrate on.”
Brown threw 99 pitches and averaged 98.2 mph on his fastball. He threw extra sliders (39) than fastballs (30) for the second begin in a row, and it was additionally the second begin in a row he’s labored with rookie catcher Yainer Diaz, who caught him in Triple-A.
“His breaking balls usually get a lot of ground balls,” Diaz mentioned. “Today he was leaving them just a little bit up and was getting just a little extra firmer contact. What I advised him was [to] throw them just a little extra down, so we will get the contact that we wish.”
