Houston silences Toronto behind stellar outing from Hunter Brown

BROWN BLANKS BLUE JAYS

Houston silences Toronto behind stellar outing from Hunter Brown
The Astros beat the Blue Jays, 7-0. Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images.

Hunter Brown struck out a season-high nine in seven innings, and the Houston Astros beat the Toronto Blue Jays 7-0 on Monday night.

Brown (3-1) allowed two hits and walked one while extending his scoreless streak to 24 consecutive innings. Forrest Whitley finished the two-hitter.

It was Houston's second shutout of the season. Toronto was blanked for the second time this year.

Jose Altuve hit a two-run double, helping the Astros win for the third time in four games.

Brendan Rodgers had two hits and two RBIs, and Zach Dezenzo had two hits and scored twice.

Toronto right-hander Kevin Gausman (2-2) allowed four runs and six hits in six innings.

Houston grabbed control with four runs in the fifth. Dezenzo doubled in Cam Smith and scored on Altuve's double off the scoreboard in left. Isaac Paredes added a run-scoring single.

The Blue Jays have been held scoreless in three of their last four games in Houston, including losses of 10-0 and 8-0 last April.

Key moment

Rodgers closed out the scoring with a two-run double in the eighth.

Key stat

Brown is 2-0 in his last three starts, striking out 16 in 19 innings while walking just three.

Up next

Toronto right-hander Chris Bassitt (2-0, 0.77 ERA) is slated to make his fifth start of the season on Tuesday against Houston right-hander Ronel Blanco (1-2, 6.48 ERA).

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The Rockets and Warriors square off in Game 2 this Wednesday. Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images.

Road teams made a stand on Monday, and a pair of series are suddenly knotted up.

Day 3 of the NBA playoffs was about the visitors. Kawhi Leonard scored 39 points โ€” his most in any game since December 2023, his most in a playoff game since 2021 โ€” to lift the Los Angeles Clippers past Denver 105-102. And in New York, Cade Cunningham scored 33 points, Dennis Schrรถder had a big 3-pointer with 55.7 seconds left and Detroit beat the Knicks 100-94 for its first playoff win in 17 years.

Those series are now tied at a game apiece, heading back to L.A. and Detroit.

There are three games on Tuesday, with Indiana playing host to Milwaukee, Oklahoma City hosting Memphis and the Los Angeles Lakers hosting Minnesota. The Pacers and Thunder are seeking 2-0 leads; the Lakers will try to make it 1-1 before the series shifts to Minnesota.

Tuesday's national TV schedule

All times Eastern

7 p.m. โ€” Milwaukee at Indiana (NBA TV)

7:30 p.m. โ€” Memphis at Oklahoma City (TNT/truTV)

10 p.m. โ€” Minnesota at L.A. Lakers (TNT/truTV)

Wednesday's national TV schedule

All times Eastern

7 p.m. โ€” Orlando at Boston (TNT/truTV)

7:30 p.m. โ€” Miami at Cleveland (NBA TV)

9:30 p.m. โ€” Golden State at Houston (TNT/truTV)

Thursday's national TV schedule

All times Eastern

7 p.m. โ€” New York at Detroit (TNT)

9:30 p.m. โ€” Oklahoma City at Memphis (TNT)

10 p.m. โ€” Denver at L.A. Clippers (NBA TV)

Betting odds

Oklahoma City (+175) is favored to win the NBA title, according to BetMGM Sportsbook, followed closely by Boston (+200). After that, it's Cleveland (+600), Golden State (+1400), the Los Angeles Lakers (+1600), the Los Angeles Clippers (+2000), New York (+4000), Minnesota (+4000) and Denver (+5000).

Denver's odds took a big hit after the Nuggets lost Game 2 at home to the Clippers โ€” whose odds, in turn, improved greatly.

From there, it's Indiana (+8000), Houston (+10000), Milwaukee (+15000), Detroit (+35000), then Miami, Memphis and Orlando (all +100000).

Golden State, the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference, is favored (-375) to win its series against No. 2 seed Houston. The Warriors entered that matchup favored, and Sunday's win moved those odds even more.

Other underdogs now favored to advance: Minnesota and the Clippers.

Award season

The first of the major NBA awards comes out on Tuesday, when the league announces the sixth man of the year โ€” either Detroit's Malik Beasley, Cleveland's Ty Jerome or Boston's Payton Pritchard.

Itโ€™ll be revealed at 7 p.m. Eastern on TNT.

The other awards this week: clutch player (Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. Eastern on TNT), defensive player of the year (Thursday at 6:30 p.m. Eastern on TNT), and the hustle awards (Friday at 2 p.m.).

Key upcoming events

April 26 โ€” NBA early entry deadline.

May 3 โ€” Earliest possible start date for Round 2 of the playoffs. Series could also start on May 4, May 5 or May 6.

May 12 โ€” Draft lottery, Chicago.

May 18 or 20 โ€” Game 1, Western Conference finals.

May 19 or 21 โ€” Game 1, Eastern Conference finals.

June 5 โ€” Game 1, NBA Finals. (Other games: June 8, June 11, June 13, June 16, June 19 and Game 7, if necessary, will be June 22.)

June 25 โ€” NBA draft, first round.

June 26 โ€” NBA draft, second round.

Stories of note

โ€” Preview of Tuesday's games: Pacers-Bucks, Thunder-Grizzlies, Lakers-Timberwolves.

โ€” Tom Thibodeau isn't happy with how Game 2 was officiated.

โ€” Mavs GM Nico Harrison didn't know how beloved Luka Doncic was in Dallas.

โ€” The NBA finalists for seven awards are released.

โ€” The playoffs could be wide-open. Again.

โ€” A look inside the numbers of this season, headed into the playoffs.

โ€” Cleveland's Kenny Atkinson wins NBCA coach of the year award.

Stats of the day

โ€” The Pistons snapped a 15-game playoff losing streak. Another loss would have tied the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (1975-79) for the second-longest in U.S. pro sports at 16. The playoff-futility record is held by baseball's Minnesota Twins, who once dropped 18 straight.

โ€” The last time Detroit won a playoff game before Monday, LeBron James was 249th on the all-time scoring list and Gregg Popovich was 19th on the all-time coaching wins list. They're both No. 1 now by wide margins.

โ€” Strange but true: The last three playoff triple-doubles have come in losing efforts. Nikola Jokic had one Monday night in Denver's loss to the Clippers and Luka Doncic's final two playoff ones for Dallas last season โ€” one against Minnesota in the West finals, the other against Boston in the NBA Finals โ€” both were in losses.

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