Astros ace's injury will test team's red-hot offense

With Brown out, the Astros have a suspect starting rotation. Mike Burrows, acquired in an offseason trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates, has allowed seven earned runs and 14 hits in 10.2 innings. Former Japanese League pitcher Tatsuya Imai has struggled finding the strike zone, throwing a ball on an alarming 44.4 percent of his pitches through two starts.

Christian Javier's first full season back after undergoing 2024 Tommy John surgery is a five-alarm fire, with the 2022 World Series champ allowing a league-high 12 earned runs and 21 base runners in 42 batters faced with just three strikeouts in 8.1 innings.

To make matters worse, Astros relievers entered Monday with the second-worst ERA (6.60) in the majors, giving up a league-high 13 home runs among relief staffs, per FanGraphs.

Those woes could sink any team, but Houston's red-hot batting gives it a chance to stay afloat while it figures out a solution to its pitching woes. The Astros lead the majors in runs scored (77) and on-base percentage (.394) and are second in team batting average (.288) and slugging (.494).

After being limited to just 48 games a season ago, designated hitter Yordan Alvarez has gotten off to a scorching start through 11 games, leading MLB with a .540 on-base percentage and blasting four home runs in 34 at-bats.

A bigger boon, arguably, has been first baseman Christian Walker's production after a lackluster first season in Houston. He's slashing .333/.404/.619 with more extra-base hits (eight) than strikeouts (seven) through 11 games.

The Astros will need more of that from Alvarez, Walker and the rest of the lineup with the pitching staff currently in shambles. Otherwise, Brown's injury could halt Houston's early momentum.