Was it a ball or a strike?
Hunter Brown has been back from the IL for a few weeks now and while he is keeping the Astros in the game he hasn't necessarily been at his best.
Hunter Brown — Starts Since Returning from the IL, per CBS Sports:
- June 16 vs Detroit (W, 4-2) — 5.2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 7 SO
- June 22 at Toronto (L, 4-2) — 3.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO
- June 28 at Detroit (W, 7-5) — 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO
- July 4 vs Tampa Bay (W, 10-8) — 4.0 IP, 6 H, 6 ER, 4 BB, 3 SO
- July 10 at Texas (L, 7-3) — 6.0 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 5 BB, 4 SO
Friday night against the Texas Rangers in the series opener on the road, Brown took the mound. He was struggling a bit with command, but the kicker was what looked like a bad call.
Brown had already walked four batters, which is not usually something he struggles with. A pitch, likely a strike, was called a ball, and no one from Houston was happy about it. Espada clearly had an opinion about the call, and Brown was told he needed to calm down.
Calling a strike as a ball is upsetting enough, especially when it walks the batter, but even more so when it matches the pitcher's career high of walks in a game.
The argument, if you can even call it that since everyone heard the ball hit the base of the bat except the home plate umpire, was whether or not it did hit the bat. But you can't challenge that, and it was called a ball and another walk for Hunter Brown.
A frustrating call that led to Brown matching his career high of 5 walks in a game. Brown has kept the Astros in games since returning, but the walk numbers are trending in the wrong direction at the worst possible time.
