Astros Pitcher Hunter Brown Had One of the Worst First Innings Ever

The Houston Astros faced the Kansas City Royals on Thursday afternoon, and starting pitcher Hunter Brown had an outing to forget. Brown failed to get out of the first inning, surrendering nine runs on 11 hits while only getting two outs. The breakdown of his performance is even more dreadful than it sounds and was the worst by an MLB pitcher this season.

Brown opened the game by giving up three straight singles to center field, as Maikel Garcia, Bobby Witt Jr. and Vinnie Pasquantino combined to give the Royals a 2-0 lead. Salvador Perez followed that by fouling out to first and it appeared Brown was beginning to right the ship.

Nope.

MJ Melendez was up next and doubled to right field, sending Pasquantino to third, Nelson Velazquez then singled Pasquantino home, 3-0. Nick Loftin then singled to center, scoring Melendez and Velazquez, 5-0. Freddy Fermin followed that by singling to left, moving Loftin to second. As the ninth batter of the inning, Kyle Isbel grounded out to first, advancing Loftin to third and Fermin to second.

With two outs, Garcia stepped to the plate and, for the second time in the inning, hit a single to center field. That hit scored Loftin and Fermin, 7-0. Witt followed that up with a home run to right, scoring Garcia and making the score 9-0. For some reason, Brown wasn't pulled at that point and continued to suffer on the mound.

Pasquantino followed the Witt home run with a single to left, Perez then singled to center. Finally, Brown walked Melendez to load the bases and Astros manager Joe Espada had seen enough. Seth Martinez entered the game and struck out Velazquez to mercifully end the inning.

The final tally for Brown: 0.2 innings, 11 hits, nine runs (all earned), one walk, no strikeouts and one home run allowed. He threw 40 pitches (26 for strikes) and faced 14 batters. His ERA for the outing was 120.00. Entering the game his ERA had been 6.43 after two starts. It's now 16.43.

Here's video of his horrific inning:

The 25-year-old Brown is in his third big league season and started 29 games for the Astros in 2023. He was average last year, posting an 11-13 record with a 5.09 ERA.

In 2024, he opened the season throwing 4.0 innings and allowing one unearned run against the New York Yankees. In that game he gave up four hits and struck out five while walking two. In his second start, the Texas Rangers hammered Brown, as he allowed five runs on eight hits in 3.0 innings. He took the loss in that one.

As you might expect, the Royals wound up winning Thursday's game, taking the contest 13-3. We'll see if Brown takes his next turn in the rotation after two pretty brutal outings.