Brown rewards Astros' run support with 6 2/3 stellar frames

ATLANTA -- The Astros have been able to build in an extra day or two between starts for ace pitcher Hunter Brown in the final few weeks of the regular season with an eye on the push for the playoffs and October. Brown has responded favorably by posting a 1.61 ERA in eight starts since the beginning of August, though a lack of run support has made winning consistently with him on the mound a bit challenging.

Brown was working on six days of rest Saturday against the Braves, using the extra days to overcome an illness he was dealing with earlier in the week. The right-hander responded by throwing a career-high 108 pitches, allowing two runs in 6 2/3 innings and taking advantage of an early offensive outburst for a 6-2 win over the Braves at Truist Park.

“I was ready to pitch today,” Brown said. “I felt good enough to pitch, and I went out there and took the ball.”

The Astros remained tied with the Mariners atop the American League West standings, with Seattle defeating the Angels on Saturday. Houston stayed two games ahead of the third-place Rangers, who have won 16 of their past 20 games.

Brown (12-7) retired nine of the first 10 batters he faced before giving up a long homer to Matt Olson in the fourth inning. He was pulled after a two-out walk in the seventh and was charged with a second run on a single from Ha-Seong Kim off reliever Enyel De Los Santos. Brown gave up four hits and struck out only two -- his fewest of the season.

“You want to ask a little bit more of your aces,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “This is your time to do it. He is physically and mentally ready for that since we prepared him the whole entire season.”

Brown probably has only two starts remaining in the regular season, and his next start will likely come next week against the Mariners in a huge series at Daikin Park. He’s aware of how much is on the line each time he gets on the mound from here on out and embraces the challenge and the pressure of a pennant race.

“I’m sure everybody else that gets the ball feels that way, as well,” Brown said. “We’re limited in games, so maybe the microscope is that much bigger. Nothing changes from the beginning of the season to now. Obviously, you’re trying to do the best you can for the guys in this room and the city of Houston, and that’s what we’re going to try to do down the stretch -- win some games and put us in position to get in the postseason.”

After breaking out of an offensive funk and scoring 11 runs in Friday’s win, the Astros kept the momentum going by scoring three times in the second and third innings against Atlanta starter Bryce Elder. A two-run double by Jeremy Peña in the second put the Astros ahead, 3-0, and Christian Walker hit a two-run homer to center in the third to make it 6-0. The homer traveled a Statcast-projected 431 feet for Walker’s 23rd blast of the season.

“You give Hunter two runs and it feels like he could go out and do the job,” Peña said. “When you give him six, you feel like the game’s already in the bag. Hunter’s been great for us all year. He’s a competitor. He goes out there and he always gives us a chance to win ballgames.”

The Astros’ offense has been hit or miss for much of the season, especially since the Trade Deadline. They scored 11 runs in Brown’s previous start on Sept. 6 against the Rangers in Arlington, but tallied only eight runs in the next four games combined prior to Friday’s outburst.

“We carried the momentum offensively, and that’s something we’ve been trying to do, and we did it,” Espada said. “We accomplished good at-bats, big hits with men in scoring position. We had bases loaded a few times and Peña lines out, Yordan [Alvarez] lines out. Those are the at-bats we’re looking for and the approach we need to carry out throughout the rest of the regular season.”