Humber coming home to Astros

Philip Humber, the former Rice star who last season pitched a perfect game for the Chicago White Sox, was claimed off waivers by the Astros on Friday.

Humber, 29, went 5-5 with a 6.44 ERA in 26 games (16 starts) for the White Sox last season, but etched him name in history on April 21 when he threw the 21st perfect game in Major League Baseball history – two months before Matt Cain threw a perfect game against the Astros.

But Humber struggled after his perfect game and wound up pitching only twice in September. The third overall pick in the 2004 Draft, Humber is 16-15 with a 4.87 ERA in 80 career games, including 44 as a starter. He was 9-9 with a 3.75 ERA in 28 games for the While Sox in 2011.

Humber threw a complete game to beat Stanford in the 2003 championship game of the College World Series to give Rice its only national title.