Framber Valdez was oh-so-close to pitching his second no-hitter in almost a year, but Corey Seager spoiled the party. Valdez, who’s been outstanding for the Houston Astros in recent starts, shut down the Texas Rangers for 82/3 innings. Yet Seager’s two-run home run to right field at Globe Life Field ruined it all. The Astros did manage to hold on for a 4-2 victory over the Rangers on Tuesday night.
Valdez had his entire pitching arsenal working all night long. From his curveball to his sinker, it all was clicking for one of the Astros’ ace pitchers. Yordan Alvarez added a two-run homer, the 150th of his career, that provided the Astros with some much-needed run support.
Framber Valdez Happy With Start
“I’m happy,” Framber Valdez said, according to Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. “Not everybody gets to get a no-hitter all the way to the ninth inning. For me, the most important thing is the team won and I won and I battled.” In that ninth inning, Valdez walked Josh Smith ahead of Seager spoiling the pitching gem.
One thing Valdez also accomplished was giving the Astros’ bullpen arms a rest. Astros closer Josh Hader did have to come on to get the final out, a long fly ball that Houston Astros outfielder Chas McCormick caught right near the right-field wall.
“The team needed that win,” Houston Astros manager Joe Espada said. “Framber, to go deep gave our bullpen a little break there, even though we had to use Josh. It was a really great team win.” Espada, who has come under fire from Astros fans for his handling of players at times, should get some credit here. He didn’t rush out there and take Valdez out after walking Smith. Espada let his veteran lefthander do his best to finish up his potential no-hitter.
Texas Rangers Play Spoiler’s Role
In the Rangers’ ninth, Valdez walked Robbie Grossman as the leadoff batter. But a double play erased him, putting Framber Valdez on the cusp of greatness. Alas, though, it didn’t happen.
“I’m like, ‘Oh, he’s going to finish it,’” Espada said. “He couldn’t finish [Josh] Smith. It looked like he was trying to overthrow a little bit. He earned the right to go after Seager.”
When reviewing his pitching strategy against Seager, Framber Valdez had one of his trademark sinkers in mind. “I thought maybe about throwing the sinker there, but my cutter was still fairly good and he was able to hit it out,” Valdez said. “He’s a tremendous hitter and that’s what he goes up there to try to do, is hit the ball.”
Seager also set a record, too. He became the first MLB player to break up multiple no-hitters with two outs in the ninth inning. Talk about a spoiler.
A key to Valdez’s pitching is seeing if he’s able to get ground-ball outs. Rangers hitters ended up with 12 of them. Valdez recorded five strikeouts, too. All Rangers manager Bruce Bochy could do after the game was tip his cap in Valdez’s direction.
“We were beating it in the ground,” Bochy said. “You got your hands full. And he was on top of his game. He’s done that to a lot of teams. That’s baseball. A guy goes out there and he’s on top of his game, and you get your hands full. We just couldn’t get anything going there ‘til the ninth.”
Houston Astros Fans See Ray of Hope
Seeing Valdez continue his recent string of excellent pitching performances raises hopes for Astros fans. Ronel Blanco also has been superb on the mound, too. Watching Alvarez connect for a long homer, too, could provide the team’s recent anemic offense with a boost. Of course, Valdez had his sights set on finishing his no-hitter. But it didn’t happen.
“I think once I get to the seventh inning, that’s when I always tell myself, ‘All right I need to throw this no-hitter,’” Valdez said. “It was a perfect game or no-hitter and I haven’t allowed any hits or no runs, that’s when I tell myself, ‘OK, I need to go finish this.’ It didn’t happen. It’s fine, but I battled today.”
The Houston Astros and Texas Rangers finish up their three-game series with a Wednesday afternoon game at Globe Life Field. It’s a crucial one because the winner will hold a tiebreaker edge. That’s a determining factor should both teams finish with the same season record. Yusei Kikuchi will start for the Astros.
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