KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Just over a year ago at the same ballpark, Houston Astros right-hander Hunter Brown got battered by the Kansas City Royals in the worst start of his life. It actually was one of the shortest and most lopsided outings ever by any starting pitcher.
This time, Brown didn’t let chaos win, and instead showed the skill and maturity that have marked his emergence as one of the top pitchers in the league.
Brown’s scoreless streak ended at 28 innings, and he had to pitch his way out of traffic a few times, but he otherwise stayed in control Sunday in a 7-3 victory for the Astros that put them back above .500.
Brown allowed a run, six hits, and a walk to go with nine strikeouts over six innings. He improved to 4-1 and has a 1.22 ERA in six starts, continuing the groove he started a few appearances into 2024. In 33 starts since May 5, he owns a 2.25 ERA, best in the American League, including reigning Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal (2.51), and second in the majors only to Paul Skenes (2.06).
Astros manager Joe Espada said Brown was the right guy to have on the mound in trying to avoid a three-game sweep.
“He’s always had the stuff, and he’s never lacked confidence, but now he understands what it takes to be an ace,” Espada said.
Brown showed no resemblance to the pitcher in his previous start at Kauffman Stadium, which came April 16, 2024, when he allowed nine runs and got two outs. He set a league record by giving up 11 hits in less than one full inning, with 12 of the 14 batters he faced reaching base.
The Astros lost 13-3, with Houston media using descriptors like “pummeled,” “implosion,” “disaster,” and “disastrous” to characterize Brown’s performance. The Astros dropped to 4-10 at the time, and the disastrous pummeling exploded Brown’s ERA to 16.43 through three starts. Brown called it “a brutal day.”
Historically brutal. It was the worst outing by game score (-7) of any starting pitcher in 2024, although win probability added and RE24 were more forgiving. A little. A search done at Baseball Reference showed that only two starts in the 52-year history of Kauffman Stadium rank as being worse. There’s always Jerry Augustine in ’82.
Espada dismissed the notion that Brown’s performance in the rematch carried any special significance because of what happened a year ago in the same ballpark against the Royals.
“I’m not thinking about that at all,” Espada said. “He’s a different pitcher.”
Brown said he wasn’t taking the game from last year into account, and didn’t have revenge in his heart, and didn’t mark this start on his calendar for motivation. Brown did make it sound like he and Espada had huddled to get their stories straight, though.
“I just took it as another start,” Brown said. “Every game in the big leagues is really important to me, probably like everyone else in this clubhouse.”
Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez marveled at Brown’s transformation over the past 54 or so weeks, and even was willing to note the contrast of his past two outings at Kansas City.
“We were talking in the dugout, how incredible he looks on the mound,” Alvarez said via a Spanish-language interpreter. “And to think that it started here, how he was able to turn it around from a bad outing and produce what he’s doing right now. It’s exciting to watch how much confidence he’s pitching with.”
Brown came to a pivotal moment in the bottom of the third inning with his team ahead by three runs.
The Royals’ No. 9 hitter singled with one out, and the leadoff man drew a four-pitch walk to bring Bobby Witt Jr. to the plate. In the top half of the inning, Royals left-hander Kris Bubic painted himself into a comparable corner, and Alvarez stroked a three-run home run to put the Astros ahead.
Witt, runner-up to Aaron Judge for AL MVP a season ago, had beaten Brown for a homer to cap the scoring in KC’s big inning in ’24. This time, Brown took care of Witt on three pitches, striking him out with a changeup under the zone. Brown doused the scoring threat by striking out Vinnie Pasquantino looking, on another changeup that touched the bottom of the zone.
Espada said Brown “nailing” his changeup makes it tough for any opposing hitter to cash in. Brown said his focus sharpened once Kansas City got action on the bases.
“Staring down the middle of the order, you’ve got to execute some pitches,” Brown said. “That time, I was able to.”
Astros catcher Yainer Díaz said Brown’s command is the biggest difference between now and then.
“That, and with the results he’s getting, comes the confidence to stay in the zone with his pitches,” Díaz said. “We expect him to get better every time he goes out there.”
Brown took his cue from Alvarez, who just missed a home run in the first inning before getting every bit of his second opportunity in the third, launching the ball estimated 436 feet to almost straightaway center field to give the Astros a cushion. Brown said that having a lead matters.
“It put me in position to keep my foot on the gas pedal in dangerous counts,” Brown said. “It affords me the ability to attack those guys.”
Brown has been on the attack for a while, taking the initiative and making good on his promise as a consensus top-40 overall prospect in 2023. Brown worked himself into relevance after being picked in the fifth round of the 2019 MLB Draft from Wayne State in Detroit, a school less than a mile from Comerica Park that also produced right-hander Anthony Bass, but no other major leaguers.
Brown got invited to the Cape Cod League the summer before he was drafted when he was 19, but he pitched in only one game. He faced four batters, retiring one, hitting one with a pitch, and walking the other two. Kind of a mini version of his first experience against the Royals, another basket of lemons that Brown turned into lemonade.
The Kauffman game in ’24 might have been the loudest moment of failure, but it wasn’t just a hiccup in Brown’s season. He started 0-4 with a 9.78 ERA before working a sinker into his repertoire to complement a four-seamer that reaches 99-100 mph, but was at least 2 mph slower at this time a year ago. In addition to his main fastballs and changeup, Brown also throws a cutter, slider and curveball. The Royals swung and missed 12 times Sunday, with Brown getting five whiffs from his change. A year earlier, he got one swing-and-miss on 40 pitches total when he threw a lot of strikes — just not good ones.
Brown didn’t dominate the Royals in the rematch, failing to go 1-2-3 in any inning. He just did an effective job of limiting the damage to almost nothing. Witt lined an RBI double in the fifth to end Brown’s scoreless streak, which dated to April 3 in the second inning against the Minnesota Twins.
Brown getting himself right in the wake of the K.C. catastrophe did more than coincide with the Astros’ turnaround in ’24. From this point a year ago, when they started 7-19, the Astros went 81-54 to edge the Seattle Mariners and win the AL West. Brown, concurrently, turned himself into a right-handed Skubal.
Espada said Brown has a willingness to keep learning and take what he’s learned out on opposing hitters, who typically have uncomfortable at-bats against him.
“He’s coachable and open to suggestions,” Espada said. “He wants to learn. I am not surprised by his success.”
