For most of the season, the Houston Astros have relied on a solid bullpen in hopes of hanging around in a winnable American League West.

Ahead of the second contest of a three-game set against the host Chicago White Sox on Saturday night, the Astros hope to ease the pressure on their weary relievers.

Houston, which won its fourth straight game with a 9-5 victory over Chicago on Friday, sits just two games behind the AL West-leading Texas Rangers and a half-game shy of the second-place Seattle Mariners.

Since May 1, the Astros’ bullpen has a 3.01 ERA, third in the majors behind only the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees. Houston had to use six relievers on Friday, though, after starter Spencer Arrighetti exited after one inning because of nerve irritation in his right foot.

Hoping to provide stability, Houston on Saturday will start Hunter Brown (1-1, 4.05 ERA), who’s struggled to find his rhythm in three July starts. An All-Star last season, the right-hander will make just his ninth start of the year after missing 2 1/2 months with a right shoulder strain. The 27-year-old is 0-1 with a 7.98 ERA in July and has failed to complete five innings in two of his past three starts.

Brown yielded four runs on three hits in 4 2/3 frames on Sunday, walking six and striking out four in a 5-2 loss to the Baltimore Orioles.

Despite Brown’s recent rough patch, Houston manager Joe Espada is trying to find the positives from his pitcher’s latest outing.

“I actually thought his stuff was so much better than his previous two starts,” Espada said. “He was just off, spraying the zone, not really throwing a ton of his strikes. That part was very uncharacteristic of him. That’s not the Hunter we’ve seen in the past, but we’ll go back to work and get him right.”

Brown’s command issues have been at the forefront of his struggles as he has allowed 15 walks in his past three starts, covering 14 2/3 innings. His average of 6.3 walks per nine innings is the highest in his five-year major league career. Brown averaged just 2.8 walks per nine innings last season.

“Just not winning the swing pitches; 2-2s and 3-2s are just turning into walks,” said Brown, who also hit two batters in his most recent start.

Vying for his first win since March 31, Brown will make his fifth career start against the White Sox. He’s 4-0 with a 2.92 ERA in the four previous matchups.

Chicago also will look for better luck on the mound after blowing a five-run lead on Friday and allowing at least nine runs for the second time in three games. The White Sox enter the contest 1 1/2 games in front of the Cleveland Guardians atop the AL Central.

Sean Burke (7-4, 3.20 ERA) will search for his third straight victory in July amid a dominant stretch for the 26-year-old right-hander. Burke is 2-0 with an 0.92 ERA in his past three starts, striking out 25 batters and walking just one. On Sunday, Burke threw 6 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing just two hits while striking out five and walking one in a 3-0 road win over the Toronto Blue Jays.

“He’s just being aggressive with the fastball, and you kind of feel it when he’s doing it, and his confidence in it just radiates,” White Sox manager Will Venable said. “Once he’s able to establish that, he goes to the off-speed stuff. He has the cutter, slider and the curveball working for him in spots, but it really comes after the fastball for me.”

Burke will want to fare better than he did in his only previous appearance against the Astros, when he surrendered seven runs on eight hits across 3 2/3 innings in a 10-2 loss on June 11, 2025.

–Field Level Media

Brian Keller’s dream to pitch in the major leagues is expected to become a reality on Saturday evening when he makes his debut for the Philadelphia Phillies against the visiting New York Yankees.

Keller has made eight starts for Triple-A Lehigh Valley in 2026, going 0-1 with a 2.23 ERA. Across two levels of the minors this season, the 32-year-old right-hander has a 2.06 ERA. Those numbers look pretty good to the Phillies now, as they have struggled to find production at the end of their rotation.

Thus, the team is expected to promote Keller to make Saturday’s start — or perhaps to pitch in bulk relief following an opener. In either case, it will be quite a moment for Keller, who has endured a roller coaster over the past decade.

“I wanted this so bad, a chance of playing in the big leagues,” he said recently. “I was not ready to give that up.”

Keller’s journey to the majors began in the Yankees’ farm system. He was a 39th-round pick by New York in the 2016 MLB draft. Since then, he also has pitched in the minors for the Boston Red Sox and Phillies, plus a stint in Japan and a long recovery from Tommy John surgery.

When he likely makes his MLB debut, he’ll face a Yankees team that has won four of its last five games. New York nipped Philadelphia 1-0 in Friday’s series opener as Cam Schlittler struck out 12 over 7 1/3 innings.

“They’ve got a great lineup,” Schlittler said. “They’re going to make you battle, and you’ve got to make the right pitches.”

Paul Goldschmidt’s solo homer in the fourth inning accounted for the only run of the game. New York totaled only three hits, while Philadelphia was limited to four.

The Phillies are 2-5 since the All-Star break and have scored more than one run in a game only three times during that stretch.

“We’ve been playing good teams,” Philadelphia catcher J.T. Realmuto said. “And we definitely would like to be playing better baseball. I think we’re just a little inconsistent right now throughout the lineup, not scoring enough runs, to be quite frank. Obviously the talent’s there. We feel good about our team. We’re not playing our best baseball right now.”

The Phillies will aim to bounce back against left-hander Ryan Weathers (3-7, 4.40 ERA), who lasted only 4 2/3 innings Monday against the Pittsburgh Pirates — and needed 99 pitches to record 14 outs. He gave up five runs, seven hits and a pair of walks in his team’s 8-5 victory.

“Wasn’t a great one for him; got hit around early on a night we’re up against it pen-wise,” New York manager Aaron Boone said of Weathers’ last start, “but I love the fact that he hung in there.”

Weathers has appeared in three games (two starts) against Philadelphia in his career, going 0-3 with a 9.53 ERA. He has given up six homers in 11 1/3 innings in those outings, including a homer to Kyle Schwarber in each of his last two games against the Phillies.

–Field Level Media