Diesel, Astros Roll Through Red Sox 9-2
HOUSTON, TEXAS - MARCH 31: Hunter Brown #58 of the Houston Astros pitches in the first inning against the Boston Red Sox at Daikin Park on March 31, 2026 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images) | Getty Images He may have been on a smaller pitch count than usual, but Hunter Brown didn’t let that stop him from charging through the Boston lineup. Brown earned his first win of the season tonight, hurling 6 innings of 1 run ball with 8 strikeouts as the Astros throttled the Red Sox 9-2.
Brown was lifted after 6 innings despite only throwing 78 pitches. The Astros led 8-1 at the time. After the game, manager Joe Espada said he wanted to keep Brown’s workload a little lighter after he pushed Brown to 102 pitches on Opening Day.
Brown threw 51 of his 78 pitches for strikes. He had 21 called strikes and 8 swings and misses in a dominating performance in which he allowed only 1 hit. After dropping the first two games of the season, the Astros have won four straight.
They have also scored at least 8 runs in those 4 straight wins, the first time they’ve scored at least 8 runs in 4 straight games since 7/26-30 2021. Speaking of those 8 runs, Yordan Alvarez was responsible for 4 of those 9 runs. Yordan had an RBI double in the first that banged off the wall in center field in the bottom of the first inning, scoring Jeremy Pena from first.
He hit a solo homer in to the second deck in right for the second straight night in the fifth. Alvarez also walked and scored on a Carlos Correa 2-run single in the 6th. Alvarez (2×3) was one of four Astros hitters with 2 hits on the night.