CHICAGO — They can acquire an outfielder, address their depth-starved starting rotation and add a right-handed leverage reliever, but the Houston Astros are going nowhere if Hunter Brown is anything less than an ace.For most of the past month, Brown did not resemble one. It is a deficiency no trade deadline acquisition can conceal, compounding the urgency for Brown to find his best self. He awoke on Saturday with a 6.08 ERA across a five-start stretch fraught with subpar command and fleeting feel for his fastball.“I just hold myself to a standard to be the best version of myself I can be for this team,” Brown said. “And I thought, quite frankly, I was underperforming that. It wasn’t due to the lack of preparation or mentality or anything like that, it was simply not executing at the level that I can.”On a cloudy evening on the South Side of Chicago, Brown became the bully this ballclub had not seen since his mid-April shoulder strain, spurring hope he has reprised his role as this rotation’s bedrock. Anything less lowers the ceiling of a team already navigating too many concerns to count — and carrying the third-highest ERA of any starting rotation in the sport.It is a burden Brown has proven capable of bearing. He finished third in Cy Young voting last season while carrying an injury-ravaged starting rotation within one game of a playoff spot.Missing more than two months of this season will prevent Brown from being back in awards consideration, but the value he can provide to this team is identical — if not higher — than last year.“The expectations are just so high because he is Hunter Brown and he is our Cy Young pitcher,” shortstop Jeremy Peña said. “We have so (many) expectations for him and he showed it today.”Brown battered the Chicago White Sox across seven scoreless innings, showing efficiency and strike-throwing that did not exist during his downturn. He retired the final 12 White Sox hitters he saw, appearing stronger in the seventh inning than he was in the first. Manager Joe Espada considered sending Brown back out for the eighth inning, but settled for seven of the best innings any of his starters have thrown all season.