The Houston Astros (4-7-3) take on the Washington Nationals (7-4-3) in Grapefruit League play.
RHP Hunter Brown is set to make his third start of the Spring, with LHP Andrew Alvarez starting for the Nationals.
BROTHER BROWN: RHP Hunter Brown, who is making his third start this Spring, established himself as one of the top starters in the Majors in 2025. For the season, he was 12-9 in 31 starts with a 2.43 ERA with 206 strikeouts in 185.1 innings of work.
Among AL starters, Brown ranked second in ERA and Quality Starts (21), third in strikeouts (206), fourth in WHIP (1.03) and fourth in pitching WAR (4.8). For his efforts, he was named to his first All-Star team and finished third in the voting for the AL Cy Young Award.
Brown also earned AL Pitcher of the Month honors for June (1.19 ERA, .130 opp. avg.). He also had a 28.0-inning scoreless inning streak in 2025. Brown has posted a 1.93 ERA (1ER/2.2IP) through his two starts this Spring, striking out five batters over that span.
TODAY’S POTENTIAL RELIEVERS: LHP Tom Cosgrove, RHP J.P. France, LHP Steven Okert, RHP Christian Roa and RHP Logan VanWey.
TODAY’S ROSTER MOVES: This morning, the Astros optioned RHP Jason Alexander and reassigned RHP Sam Carlson and RHP Alimber Santa to minor league camp.
ASTROS IN WBC: IF Zach Dezenzo started at third base in Team Italy’s 8-0 win over Team Brazil yesterday at Daikin Park, going 1×3 with an RBI and a walk.
IF Shay Whitcomb got off to a fantastic start for Team Korea in their opener on Thursday vs Team Czechia, going 2×4 with two home runs and three RBI in an 11-4 win.
Game Date/Time: Sunday, March 8, 12:05 p.m. CST
Location: CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches, West Palm Beach, FL.
Streaming: HOU video livestream (astros.com)
Radio: KBME 790 AM/94.5 FM HD-2