The Houston Astros defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 7-0 on Monday night inside Daikin Park. The win gets Houston back to even .500 on the year as they continue their homestand.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Astros (11-11) went to Hunter Brown on the mound. He cruised through the first inning, posting an opening zero.
The Blue Jays (12-11) countered with former LSU Tiger Kevin Gausman. Gausman allowed a base runner but also faced the minimum after a double play.
This became a pitchers duel early as both starters settled in immediately. Zeroes were put up on both sides until fifth.
In the bottom half of that inning, the Astros finally got things going. Zach Dezenzo began the scoring with an RBI double. Then, Jose Altuve followed with a double of his own, this time scoring two runs. Finally, Isaac Paredes added one more with an RBI single. After the fifth, it was 4-0 in favor of Houston.
Brown continued to cruise, and he worked seven scoreless innings. The outing dropped his ERA to 1.16.
The Astros would add an insurance run in the bottom of the bottom of the seventh when Yordan Alvarez hit an RBI single.
They would also add two more in the eighth and that would be plenty as the Astros held on for the 7-0 shutout win.
BIG NUMBER: 24
With seven scoreless, Hunter Brown has now gone 24 straight frames without allowing a run. Dating back to the beginning of last year, he has a 2.24 ERA in his last 28 starts.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Hunter Brown
Brown went seven innings, striking out nine and allowing no runs. His nine K’s were just one off of his career high as he extended the scoreless inning streak.
UP NEXT: The Astros and Blue Jays continue their series inside Daikin Park tomorrow night at 7:10 PM. You can listen to that game on Newstalk 98.5 FM.