Hunter Brown sharp in longest rehab start, Sugar Land beats El Paso 4-1

The Houston Astros got the kind of rehab line that changes a return timetable: Hunter Brown worked 4.1 innings Thursday night, allowed one run on three hits and struck out four as Sugar Land beat El Paso 4-1 at Southwest University Park. It was Brown’s longest rehab outing yet, and it looked like a major league starter reclaiming his rhythm rather than a pitcher merely checking a box.

Brown threw 57 pitches, 38 for strikes, and topped out at 98.9 mph. For the Astros, that mix of velocity and strike throwing mattered as much as the final line. Brown has been working back from a grade 2 right shoulder strain that sidelined him since March 31, and this start marked another step after his first rehab appearance on May 25 with Corpus Christi and his first Triple-A rehab start on May 29, when he threw three innings for Sugar Land. Before the injury, Brown had opened 2026 with 17 strikeouts in 10 2/3 innings over two starts, and he carried a far bigger reputation than a typical rehab assignment, coming off a 2025 season in which he went 12-9 with a 2.43 ERA, a 1.02 WHIP, his first All-Star nod and a third-place finish in American League Cy Young voting.

Sugar Land did its damage in the fifth, when the game flipped from a tight rehab showcase into a club win. Cavan Biggio started the burst with one of his three hits, then Shay Whitcomb followed with another single before CJ Alexander and Carlos Pérez delivered RBI hits. Pérez finished 2-for-3 with two RBIs, while Biggio went 3-for-4 with an RBI, a walk and a run scored. The Space Cowboys scored all four of their runs in the fifth and sixth innings, enough to back Brown’s work and keep the lead intact.

Ethan Pecko handled the rest, firing 4.0 scoreless relief innings to close out the victory. The win was Sugar Land’s third straight and pushed the Space Cowboys to 26-34, while El Paso fell to 25-35 and matched its longest losing streak of the season at four games. Sugar Land will try for a four-game streak Friday night, but the bigger takeaway was Brown looking sharp enough to make the Astros think his big-league return could arrive with real impact.