The Houston Astros lost to the Texas Rangers 1-0 on Thursday night in a pitcher's duel. Hunter Brown and Jacob deGrom locked horns and both pitched gems in Arlington. But deGrom's Rangers came out on top after his eight shutout innings, and Shawn Armstrong came on for the save. Brown spoke after the game with Stephen Hawkins of The Associated Press.

“That one just stinks, you know? You want to come out on top of those games, and it didn’t fall our way,” Brown said. “There’s a handful of pitches throughout the course of the game that got foul balls or guys popped them up or hit a groundball. (Burger) was able to put a really good swing on it and make us pay for it.”

The one blemish on either pitcher's resume was Jake Burger's sixth-inning homer off of Brown. While that is an infuriating way to lose, it is a continuation of Brown's excellent start to 2025. The outing dropped his ERA to 1.43 and his WHIP to a remarkable 0.829.

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The Astros and Rangers have both gotten off to shaky starts offensively but have dominated on the mound. Brown had a 2.26 ERA after the All-Star Break last year and has dominated this year. deGrom has continued his injury struggles with the Rangers, but finally started this year healthy. This was vintage deGrom, something the Rangers have been begging for since giving him $185 million.

The Astros will look to bounce back against Nathan Eovaldi on Friday in Arlington. They'll be throwing Lance McCullers on the hill in his first start since allowing eight runs in the first inning. The Lone Star State rivalry is fierce, and losing this set could set Houston on a downward trajectory. They need this game and cannot let their offense get into a funk against Eovalid.