(Photo credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images)

The Houston Astros will have to cobble together their pitching plans for the final two games of their weekend series against the New York Mets.

Thanks to Hunter Brown and an assist from the Milwaukee Brewers, such a piecemeal problem is a lot less concerning than it might have been entering Friday.

The Astros will look to continue their resurgence Saturday afternoon when they visit the Mets in the second contest of the three-game interleague set.

Left-hander Bennett Sousa (1-3, 6.27 ERA) will serve as an opener for the Astros in his first big league start. Cristian Javier (1-4, 6.47 ERA) likely will follow in a bulk relief role.

Right-hander Nolan McLean (9-8, 3.21) is slated to start for the Mets.

Brown struck out a season-high 10 batters over 6 2/3 innings Friday night, when he earned the win as the Astros beat the Mets, 3-1.

Brown's gem, coupled with the Milwaukee Brewers' 6-1 win over the Texas Rangers, increased Houston's American League West lead over the second-place Rangers to two games. The Astros will win any tiebreaker by virtue of a 9-4 edge in the season series with their Lone Star State rivals.

The Astros are 3-1 since the exit of general manager Dana Brown on Monday.

Houston, which is trying to return to the playoffs after its streak of nine straight postseason appearances was snapped last year, continued tinkering Thursday, when former pitching coach Brent Strom returned to the team as a consultant.

Strom, pitching coach Joshua Miller and assistant pitching coach Ethan Katz will be tasked with figuring out a way to repair a rotation that has issued a league-high 330 walks while compiling a 5.11 ERA - third-worst in the majors - and averaging just 4.9 innings per outing.

Neither Javier nor whomever starts Sunday's game - the Astros currently have 'TBD' as their probable pitcher - likely are to approach the length provided Friday by Brown, who was the first Astros pitcher to pitch at least six innings since Hayden Wesneski lasted seven innings against the San Francisco Giants on Aug. 10.

'That's huge, just to get him out there in the seventh and us being able to save some bullets for the next few days,' Astros manager Joe Espada said.

McLean has provided plenty of relief for the Mets' bullpen by lasting at least six innings in 12 of his last 14 starts. He's gone 6-4 with a 2.40 ERA in that span to drop his overall ERA from 4.21 to 3.21 - the lowest it has been since McLean had a 2.92 ERA following his start on May 14.

McLean has gone at least six innings 17 times overall in 26 starts this season - more than twice as often as Sean Manaea, who ranks second on the Mets with eight outings of six innings or more.

'I wouldn't say I am any stronger or any better than I felt to start the season,' McLean said following his start against the Chicago White Sox last Sunday, when he tossed six scoreless innings of one-hit ball and didn't factor into the decision in the Mets' 2-1 loss.

'It's just every time I go out there, I am trying to learn and hopefully doing a better job of that.'

Sousa took the defeat in his most recent outing Wednesday night, when he gave up four runs while recording just one out in the Astros' 9-3 loss to the Yankees. Javier last pitched Sunday, when he didn't factor into the decision after allowing three runs over four innings as the starter in a 7-6 loss to the Athletics.

Sousa has never opposed the Mets. Javier didn't factor into the decision in his lone start against New York on June 21, 2023, when he surrendered four runs over 2 1/3 innings in the Astros' 10-8 victory.

McLean has never faced the Astros.

-Field Level Media