Hunter Brown pitches well against Tigers on Sunday

Brown gave up four hits, walked two and struck out four. The 27-year-old right-hander took a line drive off his lower back and was checked out by trainers, but remained in the game. Brown then only lasted three innings after the Blue Jays forced him to throw 85 pitches. He’ll look to be more efficient in his next start against the Tigers on the road this weekend.

Brown stranded a runner in his first inning back in action with the help of an outfield assist by Cam Smith. The Tigers brought one run in to score in the second on a walk and a base hit. He settled in and got better deeper into the game, tossing two clean innings, stranded one walk in the fifth, then left with two outs on 92 pitches after walking a batter in the sixth. The 27-year-old right-hander’s velocity was right in line with his pre-injury form, at 96 mph. He generated 12 whiffs to collect seven strikeouts in his impressive return. Brown will take a 1.10 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, and a 24/9 K/BB ratio across 16 1/3 innings into a start against the Blue Jays in Toronto on Monday.

Brown returns to Houston’s rotation to face former teammate and current Tigers southpaw Framber Valdez on Tuesday night at Daikin Park. The 27-year-old fantasy ace wound up missing 10 weeks recovering from a shoulder strain that he suffered back in early April. It’s a strong home matchup right out of the gate, even if Detroit has been scoring plenty of runs recently. He shouldn’t have any restrictions from a workload standpoint after throwing 74 pitches during his final minor league rehab start for Triple-A Sugar Land last week.

The 27-year-old hurler punched out seven batters over five innings of two-run ball in his final minor league rehab start at Triple-A Sugar Land on Wednesday. He threw 74 pitches during that outing and shouldn’t have much of a workload concern in Tuesday’s return. Brown has been shelved since early April due to a Grade 2 shoulder strain.

Brown averaged 96.4 mph on his fastball and topped out at 98.6 mph, generating 11 swinging strikes over five frames. The 27-year-old fantasy ace threw 74 pitches (45 strikes) during his fourth, and likely final, rehab outing. He’s been working his way back from a Grade 2 shoulder strain that put him on the shelf back in early April. He figures to rejoin Houston’s rotation to take the ball against the Tigers early next week.

Astros manager Joe Espada told reporters Brown will need at least one additional tune-up before returning to the club’s rotation in mid-June. The 27-year-old fantasy ace threw just 57 pitches over 4 1/3 innings during his latest rehab outing earlier this week, so it makes sense for him to continue building up his pitch count before returning to Houston’s rotation.

Brown threw 57 pitches in his third minor league rehab start at Triple-A Sugar Land on Thursday and came out of that outing feeling good. Espada said that they’ll meet to discuss the next steps for the 27-year-old right-hander, but it sounds like there’s a good chance he could make his long-awaited return to the club’s rotation next week.

He struck out four and walked one while throwing 38 of his 57 pitches for strikes. He touched 98.9 mph during the outing and had 10 whiffs, including five on his four-seam fastball. It’s likely that the right-hander will need one more rehab start before returning in line with his mid-June timeline from weeks ago.

Brown, who threw a bullpen session on Tuesday, was up to 44 pitches in his last rehab start and will probably try to push near 60 pitches in this one. If all goes well, we’d assume he makes one more rehab start before re-joining Houston’s rotation in about two weeks.

Brown averaged 97.6 mph on his four-seam fastball and increased his pitch count to 44 (33 strikes) during his second rehab outing. The lone hit he allowed over three frames was a solo homer to infielder Ryan Fitzgerald. The 27-year-old fantasy ace will likely require at least one or two additional rehab outings to continue building up his pitch count and stamina. He’s on track to return to Houston’s rotation at some point in mid-June.