Just when the 2026 season started off on the right note for the Houston Astros, the injury bug hit again. It’s been a rough week for Astros fans.

The Astros’ offense has been topping the charts in MLB to begin the season. The club was sitting nicely with a 6-3 record after an 11-0 trashing of the Athletics on April 4. It’s all gone downhill since then. The Astros have now lost four games in a row and got shockingly thrashed themselves at the hands of the Colorado Rockies. 

Concerns Early

Houston got swept in Colorado, and all three games were not even close. The Astros got outscored 23-9 total, and the pitching struggles are only getting worse just a week in. While the offense has been great, the pitching has been one of the worst in baseball. This road trip was a disaster with four losses in five days. The Astros now have a record of 6-7. 

While there’s plenty of time to fix it as the season just started, the pitching issues are concerning. Having injuries only makes it more difficult. That is what the Astros are already dealing with in a frustrating way for the fans. 

Astros Ace Hunter Brown Suffers Injury

The Astros announced on April 5 that ace pitcher Hunter Brown went down with a right shoulder strain and was placed on the 15-day injured list. This was considered to be a Grade 2 shoulder strain, and Brown will not throw for a few weeks, according to the team. 

The 2025 All-Star will be re-evaluated in two weeks. Astros manager Joe Espada and general manager Dana Brown said that the right-hander’s strain is muscular and involved no damage to ligaments. This is considered to be a moderate injury, and Grade 2 strains involve a partial tear of the shoulder muscle. 

Hunter Brown will be re-evaluated in two weeks, Joe Espada said. Both Espada and Dana Brown said that Hunter Brown’s strain is muscular in nature and there is no damage to any ligaments. Dana Brown described that as positive news.

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) April 7, 2026

“I think in about two weeks, two to three weeks, he’ll probably start tossing. And then we’ll see where we are at that point. But I looked at it as good news,” Brown told the media on Tuesday, according to the Houston Chronicle. 

More Details on Hunter Brown Injury

This is the first time that Brown has been placed on the injured list in his four-year career. It doesn’t seem like the team is too worried about this injury, but there isn’t a specific timeline on Brown’s return for at least three weeks, according to Will Kunkel. 

That is expected, as it’s tough to predict an exact timetable with this specific kind of injury. A Grade 2 strain typically involves a six to eight-week recovery at best for pitchers due to a gradual build-up, and can more likely take up to 10 weeks to get back to full strength. 

A realistic return for Brown at this point would be sometime in June, assuming everything goes well in his recovery. It seems like the Astros were preparing for the worst, but Dana Brown said on SportsTalk 790 that the 27-year-old’s injury is not season-ending and was much better news than they expected. 

Dana Brown said that Hunter Brown’s injury is not season-ending and was much better news than they expected, per @SportsTalk790

— Michael Schwab (@michaelschwab13) April 8, 2026

After Brown’s second start of the season on March 31, Espada said that his shoulder didn’t feel right during his throwing program on April 3 in Sacramento, according to the Houston Chronicle. 

Hunter Brown’s shoulder “didn’t feel right” during his throwing program Friday, Joe Espada said. Brown had imaging in Sacramento and is now back in Houston to be evaluated by team doctors.

— Matt Kawahara (@matthewkawahara) April 5, 2026

A Big Hole for the Astros

This now becomes a big two-month issue for the Astros to deal with, as their best pitcher will not be available. Brown finished third in American League Cy Young voting last season and went 12-9 with a 2.43 ERA, along with 206 strikeouts in 185 1/3 innings. Brown threw 102 pitches in 4 2/3 scoreless innings on his first Opening Day start this season. He followed that up with six innings of one-run ball in 78 pitches against the Boston Red Sox. 

One of the key focuses for Houston during the offseason was to upgrade the depth of its starting pitching. While they signed plenty of options, the results are not going their way as they are. The Astros’ pitching is one of the worst in baseball at the moment. Add on Cristian Javier’s injury, and the Astros are now down to three starting options in Mike Burrows, Tatsuya Imai, and Lance McCullers Jr. 

What It Means for the Astros

Houston will likely call up Spencer Arrighetti from Triple-A Sugar Land at some point in the coming week to plug in as a starter and will have to use one of its long relievers to fill in another starting spot. It would probably be a choice between AJ Blubaugh, Ryan Weiss, Kai-Wei Teng, and Cody Bolton. 

The good news is the Astros have players available. The issue has been the quality of pitching. The Astros’ bullpen ranks last in the majors with a 7.09 ERA. Blubaugh has been taken for nine runs in his last three innings, while Weiss gave up six runs in 2 2/3 innings his last time out. Both have made previous starts. Blubaugh made a couple of starts last year for Houston, while Weiss did in Korea. 

Teng has been a solid option thus far and could be plugged in with a 2.35 ERA in five games. He made seven starts in 2024 with the San Francisco Giants. Bolton was invited to spring training and made the roster. He currently has a 3.68 ERA in two games and just made a start against the Rockies. 

More Help on the Way

All-Star closer Josh Hader is on his way back, and Nate Pearson, who is being stretched out as a reliever, should also make his Astros debut at some point before Brown comes back. J.P. France has been added to the roster for Seattle after Roddery Munoz was DFA’d. There are a lot of questions, but the Astros do have the depth to figure this out. It will be interesting to see what kind of outcome it produces. 

It was initially expected that the Astros would go to a six-man rotation with 13 straight games starting on Friday, but that looks like a challenge at the moment. 

 

Main Photo Credit: Thomas Shea-Imagn Images