Fastball

Houston Astros Young Ace Joins Organizational History Even as Season Ends

The Houston Astros are out of the Major League Baseball playoffs, but you can't blame starting pitcher Hunter Brown.

Brady Farkas

Houston Astros pitcher Hunter Brown (58) reacts after striking out Detroit Tigers catcher Jake Rogers (not pictured) to end the top of the fifth inning of game two of the Wildcard round for the 2024 MLB Playoffs at Minute Maid Park.
Houston Astros pitcher Hunter Brown (58) reacts after striking out Detroit Tigers catcher Jake Rogers (not pictured) to end the top of the fifth inning of game two of the Wildcard round for the 2024 MLB Playoffs at Minute Maid Park. / Thomas Shea-Imagn Images
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The Houston Astros are out of the Major League Baseball playoffs after getting swept in the wild card round by the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday afternoon.

The loss ends the Astros streak of seven consecutive years of reaching the ALCS or better. Houston held a 2-1 lead in the top of the eighth inning but the bullpen tandem of Ryan Pressly and Josh Hader wasn't able to hold it.

Starting pitcher Hunter Brown certainly did his job after tossing 5.2 innings and giving up one run on just two hits. He walked two and struck out nine, joining some rare team history in the process.

Per Sarah Langs of MLB.com:

Hunter Brown's 9 strikeouts are 2nd-most by an Astros pitcher in his first career postseason start behind Mike Scott's 14 in 1986 NLCS G1

Brown had an excellent regular season for Houston, going 11-9 with a 3.49 ERA in 31 games. He struck out 179 batters in 170.0 innings and helped anchor a Houston rotation that was decimated by injury.

The Astros lost Cristian Javier, JP France and Jose Urquidy to injury for the season while also not getting contributions from Luis Garcia or Lance McCullers Jr. Justin Verlander also missed a large portion of the season.

Brown figures to be one of the top young starters in the American League again in 2025 and he will look to lead Houston to another American League West title.

Beyond Brown's performance, this could have represented the final game in an Astros uniform for third baseman Alex Bregman, who is a free agent at the end of the year.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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