Hunter Brown stars again as Astros blank Jays

Hunter Brown extended his consecutive scoreless innings streak to 24 and the Houston Astros parlayed a four-run fifth inning into a 7-0 victory over the visiting Toronto Blue Jays on Monday.

Brown (3-1) surrendered two hits and issued one walk while recording a season-high nine strikeouts over seven dominant innings. It marked his third consecutive scoreless start. Brown's streak of 24 shutout innings is the longest in the majors this season and the longest by an Astros starter since Cristian Javier strung together 25 1/3 scoreless innings in 2022.

The Blue Jays managed to push one baserunner into scoring position with Brown on the bump, doing so in the second inning when George Springer dumped a leadoff single into center field and swiped second and third base. Brown, meanwhile, struck out Andres Gimenez and Alejandro Kirk before getting Ernie Clement to fly out to right to strand Springer at third.

Brown retired eight consecutive batters before Springer walked with two outs in the fourth. Bo Bichette singled to left with one out in the sixth, but Brown responded by getting Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to roll into an inning-ending double play started by third baseman Isaac Paredes.

Brown retired the side in order in the seventh with strikeouts of Anthony Santander and Springer included. He threw 96 pitches, 62 for strikes, and averaged 97.6 mph on 35 fastballs.

Toronto right-hander Kevin Gausman (2-2) matched zeros with Brown before the bottom suddenly fell out in the fifth inning.

Astros rookie Cam Smith ignited the rally with a one-out single to right, just the second hit surrendered by Gausman. Brendan Rodgers followed with a single before Zach Dezenzo and Jose Altuve doubled in succession, with Dezenzo plating Smith and Altuve driving home Rodgers and Dezenzo to stretch the Houston lead to 3-0.

Paredes capped the rally with a two-out single that scored Altuve. Gausman allowed four runs on six hits and three walks with six strikeouts over six innings.

The bottom third of the Astros' order finished 5-for-10 with four runs and three RBIs. Dezenzo and Rodgers recorded two-hit games, with Dezenzo adding a double and a run in the seventh and Rodgers a two-run double in the eighth inning.

Houston's Forrest Whitley pitched two hitless innings to complete the shutout.

--Field Level Media