Dusty Baker Pulled Astros Rookie Early to Boost Confidence

The Houston Astros entered Wednesday facing a situation that has become foreign to them in recent years. They were on the verge of getting swept at home.

Their rookie starter was given the ball to prevent a sweep against the league's second-worst team, Oakland Athletics, after their two aces were both handed losses to start the series.

Coming into this game, Hunter Brown had been struggling mightily.

He hadn't gone further than five innings in his last four starts, giving up six earned runs twice in those appearances.

On Wednesday, the rookie didn't make it past five innings either, but this time it was for a different reason.

Brown pitched five hitless innings against the Athletics before manager Dusty Baker decided to pull him out of the game.

When asked about why he made this decision, Baker said it was a strategical.

"We wanted to send him out on a positive note because that's the first real positive he's had in a few starts," he said according to Chandler Rome of The Athletic.

Situations where pitchers are pulled while throwing no-hitters have become more common in the modern game, but are still surprising. In this scenario, it makes sense for Baker to try and boost his rookie pitcher's confidence following a string of bad starts.

Brown will be an important piece of the puzzle for the Astros in the postseason. Framber Valdez and Justin Verlander haven't had the same level of dominance during the second half of the season and they might need their rookie to guide them to victory in the playoffs like he did tonight.

Whether or not this decision pays major dividends is to be seen, but it's a good sign that the right hander had his first good start in about a month.