Feast or Famine. The Astros Get Shutout by Milwaukee, 6-0

After scoring 12 runs the night before, the Astros were shut out tonight by Colin Rea and the Brewers’ pen on five hits, breaking the Astros’ eight-game winning streak.

Perhaps the biggest event in this game was the late exit of Jose Altuve from an undisclosed and unapparent injury.

One silver lining was another excellent outing by J.P. France, who allowed only one earned run on a third-inning homer by Joey Wiemer. Perhaps his previous outing in which he was hit hard was just an aberration. After tonight’s 5.2 innings with eight strikeouts, France’s season ERA is down to 3.43.

Phil Maton followed France and got the next four batters, three by strikeout. His season ERA is now 0.77.

The Brewers scored another freak run in the fourth against France. It started with an Owen Miller single, who next stole second and then scored when a Yainier Diaz pickoff attempt grazed Owens returning to second, allowing the ball to squirt into no man’s land in center field, giving Owens the scoring opportunity.

Going into the eighth, the Astros still had a chance, down only 2-0, but Rafael Montero had another meltdown, allowing four runs on a two-run double to Brian Anderson and a two-run homer to Miller. His season ERA is 7.32.

The Astros go for the series win tomorrow at 12:10 CT behind Brandon Bielak.

Box Score HERE.