Brown flirts with 100 mph in solid start to '25 campaign

HOUSTON -- Considering how well Astros pitcher Hunter Brown was growing at the end of last season, his first start of 2025 couldn’t come fast enough. Perhaps that was why, with the adrenaline flowing on Friday night before a packed house, he was lighting up the radar gun in an electric first inning.

Brown touched 99 mph on his third and fourth pitches of the game and later hit 99.6 mph -- the fastest pitch of his career -- one pitch before Pete Alonso put a scare into him by hitting a 415-foot fly out to center field that Jake Meyers made a leaping catch on at the wall.

Brown ended up giving up three runs (two earned), including allowing Juan Soto’s first homer as a member of the Mets, but he delivered a quality start by throwing six strong innings in the Astros’ 3-1 loss to the Mets at Daikin Park.

“That was a really good outing,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “He threw the ball really well. His stuff was coming out hot. He made some good pitches. Those guys put some good swings on pitches out of the zone. I thought they were well-executed, but I thought he threw the ball really well.”

Brown’s emergence last year was one of the biggest bright spots of Houston’s season. He was 0-4 with a 9.78 ERA in his first six starts last season and went 11-5 with a 2.51 ERA in 147 innings in his final 25 games (24 starts) of the regular season. He got the ball in Game 2 of last year’s Wild Card Series against the Tigers and pitched well in a loss.

“I was excited to be back,” Brown said. “It’s my Opening Day, right? I felt good today. I thought I held my velo good all game. Just kind of came up short there today.”

Brown, who averaged 96.0 mph with his fastball last year, said he worked in the offseason on trying to find more velocity. He averaged 97.8 mph on his four-seam fastball Friday, a bump of nearly two mph from last year’s average.

“He came out touching 100,” Espada said. “He was feeling strong and, outside of that second inning, he came out and he settled down and made some really good pitches. That’s a quality outing.”

Brown struck out Francisco Lindor and Soto to start the game before Alonso rocketed one to center field. Brown looked towards the dugout expecting the worst, but Meyers jumped and caught the ball as he banged his back into the wall. Three up, three down.

“There’s just different sounds [off the bat],” Brown said. “If a guy hits it pretty hard, you kind of know it. Here, it’s tough to get it out to center, so it was great. Jake made an unbelievable catch out there. That one was kind of a tweener for me. I didn’t really know. It sounded good and I knew he hit it pretty well.”

Said Espada: “How many times have we seen him make that play? It’s unbelievable. It’s not a routine play, and he makes it look very [routine]. How fast he gets to the wall, he finds the wall and makes a leaping catch. Outstanding center fielder. One of the best in the game.”

The Mets greeted Brown with three straight hits to start the second, leading to a pair of runs. Only one of them was earned after second baseman Brendan Rodgers dropped Brown’s pickoff throw at second base, allowing Brandon Nimmo to reach second and later score on a Mark Vientos double.

In the third inning, Soto turned on a 1-2 fastball and hit it off the fa?ade of the upper deck in right field. He’s hitting .394 with two homers and six RBIs in nine career regular-season games at Daikin, including a 9-for-17 clip in the Yankees’ four-game sweep of the Astros to begin last season.

“That was exactly where I wanted to throw it,” Brown said. “That guy’s a really good player and he put a better swing on it.”

Brown didn’t allow a hit the rest of the way, pitching around three walks while flashing the kind of dominant pitch mix that has the Astros hoping he can be their ace of the future.

“All in all, I think I made some good pitches, and I’m feeling good about that,” Brown said. “I can build off that outing today.”