Astros Get Skunked, 8-2

It was the Tale of Two Hunters. There was Hunter (Cy) Brown of innings one, two and four. And then there was Hunter (BP) Brown of innings three and five. Did the Twins kidnap the real Brown and smuggle in an imposter?

For two innings Hunter Brown was unhittable. He was dotting the corners at will and his fastball reached 98. He struck out five of the six batters he faced in the first two innings.

Then it was the third inning.

Two singles and a walk. Then a two run single by Donovan Sullivan and an RBI single by Alex Kirilloff and Brown went from unhittable to batting practice.

Brown got two more Ks in a scoreless fourth, but with two outs in the fifth and runners on first and second Brown was removed after a career high 102 pitches. Parker Mushinski came in, hit Joey Gallo with a pitch, and then gave up a two run double to Ryan Jeffers, both runs charged to Brown.

Brown had 8 Ks in 4.2 IP after being charged with five runs.

In the sixth the Twins scored two more runs off Mushinski on a double by Donovan Solano.

They added another run in the seventh off Seth Martinez on a two-out Michael A. Taylor double.

The Astros couldn’t touch Twins starter Louie Varland, but in the eighth inning they immediately torched Jorge Lopez with back-to-back jacks, first by Jake Meyers, and then by Yainier Diaz. After facing four batters without recording an out Lopez was replaced by Brock Stewart. Stewart immediately struck out Yordan Alvarez, Alex Bregman and Corey Julks pinch hitting for...Kyle Tucker? Tucker is 1 for his last 11 ABs.

The Astros finished with six hits, one more than in their victory Tuesday night.

The Astros host the Angels tomorrow at 7:10 CT.

Box score HERE.