TAMPA -- Hunter Brown’s shoulders slumped as soon as Rays outfielder Josh Lowe made contact with his first pitch of the fifth inning Wednesday. That changeup landed beyond the center-field wall.
Brown’s next pitch, another changeup, came off of second baseman Brandon Lowe’s bat at a 47-degree launch angle.
At first glance, it looked like a popup. But as the ball kept drifting out toward right field, Brown threw his hands up into the air as if to say, “What gives?” He could only watch as another ball departed hitter-friendly George M. Steinbrenner Field. It was the highest launch angle on a home run this season.
“That one, I thought there was no chance [of it being a home run], to be honest with you,” Brown said.
The Astros’ right-handed ace has frustrated opposing hitters all season long, but in Houston’s 8-4 series-finale loss to the Rays, it was Brown who was left vexed.
He gave up five earned runs and three homers -- including those back-to-back dingers -- across a season-low five innings. Brown had allowed only two home runs through his first nine starts this season, and the five earned runs matched his total from his previous 49 2/3 innings. He induced a season-low six whiffs on 42 swings and struck out only four, snapping a five-start streak with exactly nine K’s.
Brown said that he couldn’t get a good feel for his breaking pitches, and his velocity was also down a tick on all of his offerings.
“I felt like I was grinding from pitch one,” he said.
Stating the obvious, it was an uncharacteristic clunker from the 26-year-old, who came into the day with a 1.43 ERA and led all qualified hurlers with 2.4 fWAR. He has been critically important to a rotation that has a handful of arms currently on the injured list.
And another one may join the list soon.
Right-handed starter Ronel Blanco was sent back to Houston on Tuesday, one day after he told the club that he was experiencing some right elbow soreness. Blanco was scheduled to be examined by team doctors on Wednesday. The news on Blanco came just a few days after it was confirmed that Hayden Wesneski will undergo Tommy John surgery.
The Astros are piecing together their rotation and will continue to do so. They turned to Colton Gordon and Brandon Walter -- two pitchers with one Major League start between them entering this week -- in the first two games of this series. Houston could only muster a split, but both pitchers gave the team a chance to win.
But as the question marks mount in the starting staff, winning games like Wednesday’s rubber match with Brown on the mound becomes even more crucial.
“Hunter has kind of set the tone and the stage for us to go out there and win series, win big games,” manager Joe Espada said. “But we’ve also got to understand that there are going to be days where not everything is going to go his way.”
Isaac Paredes wrapped up his weekend against his former team with two more home runs, giving him 10 on the year and six in his past nine games. And in contrast to some of the homers that Brown served up, Paredes didn’t hit wall-scrapers. Both long balls he hit traveled a Statcast-projected 407 feet and would have been out of all 30 MLB ballparks.
"It's incredible what this ballpark is, especially those home runs that [Josh Lowe and Brandon Lowe] hit,” Paredes said via team interpreter Otto Loor. “I didn't think they were home runs, especially against a dominant pitcher like Hunter Brown.”
Said Brown: “I’m just really looking forward to getting back to Houston, honestly.”
The Astros will head home to open a pivotal four-game set against the AL West-leading Mariners on Thursday. Houston is 3 1/2 games behind Seattle, and the series will mark the end of the Astros’ 17 consecutive games without an off-day.
“We’ve got a big series ahead of us,” Espada said, “so we will move forward here.”