Houston Astros Prospect León Returns to Triple-A, Brown Tosses Scoreless Outing

Pedro León returned to the Sugar Land Space Cowboys on Sunday, hitting sixth as the designated hitter.

The Houston Astros activated Pedro León from the 7-day injured list Sunday for Triple-A Sugar Land. The 24-year-old outfielder returned to the lineup in the sixth-hole as the designated hitter, going 1-for-3 with two runs, two walks and two strikeouts.

León was placed on the shelf Aug. 9 with a facial fracture on the left side of his face after taking a pitch up and in three days prior. Coming off an improved month in July, the right-hander boosted his OPS to .830 before the start of August.

Entering Sunday's contest, León was slashing .237/.370/.452 with 14 home runs and 22 doubles in his second minor-league season. Improving his plate discipline in July, the righty walked at a higher rate (16) than striking out (13) for the first time in his career.

The Space Cowboys deployed top prospect Hunter Brown in relief Sunday. The righty entered with two outs and a one-run lead in the third inning, leaving his outing with 3 1/3 innings pitched of no-hit ball and four strikeouts.

Brown generated nine swing and misses while topping out at 99.4 mph on his four-seam fastball. Sunday marked his first scoreless appearance since June 30 and third relief outing of August. The righty leads the Pacific Coast League with a 2.55 ERA, 134 strikeouts, a .186 opponent’s batting average and is second with a 1.08 WHIP.

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