Getty Image / Ed Zurga
Things have not been going well for the Houston Astros to start the season, and they entered Thursday’s matinee against the Kansas City Royals at 4-9. Somehow, things got worse, as starting pitcher Hunter Brown had the worst first inning in the history of Major League Baseball.
Hunter Brown came out for the bottom of the first and proceeded to get absolutely shelled. Shelled may not be a strong enough word for the first inning that he went through .
Hunter Brown gave up 9 runs on 11 hits and only got two outs before finally being pulled by Astros manager Joe Espada.
The Anti-PitchingNinja 1st Inning.
9 runs, 11 hits, 1 walk in .2 IP. 😬 pic.twitter.com/vfc5DCxKHR
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 11, 2024
No pitcher had ever given up that many hits and not even got out of the first inning!
Hunter Brown is the 1st pitcher in MLB history to allow 11 hits while pitching less than 1 full inning. Unreal. pic.twitter.com/sQ12ltRlQ2
— Evan Abrams (@EvanHAbrams) April 11, 2024
If you watch the video again, some of that was bad luck. Yeah, there were some hard-hit balls, but there definitely a few hits that found a hole, and one was likely an out if the infield was not playing in.
Somehow, he only threw 40 pitches in the 12 batters he faced. It’s not like he couldn’t find the zone, he just simply could not get people out.
After a good first outing of the season where Hunter Brown threw four scoreless innings, he’s now given up 14 runs in 3 2/3 innings since. That’s good for an ERA of 34.8
Meanwhile, assuming the Royals hold on to their big lead, they’ll be off to an impressive 9-4 start. They’ve got a good young core there, led by superstar shortstop Bobby Witt, and it’s good to see them start to turn the corner in their rebuild.