On the day the Astros added one ace, another re-announced his presence. All-Star left-hander Framber Valdez threw the 16th no-hitter in Astros history during a 2-0 win against the Guardians at Minute Maid Park on Tuesday night, taking some of the attention away from Houston’s blockbuster acquisition of Justin Verlander that afternoon.
Valdez entered the outing seeking a bounce-back. He boasted a 7.00 ERA in his past five starts and had surrendered 15 earned runs in his past 15 innings, somewhat increasing the front office’s urgency to add a starting pitcher at the trade deadline.
Tuesday demonstrated how lethal Houston’s new-look rotation could be. Valdez threw the first solo no-hitter by an Astros pitcher since Verlander accomplished the feat on Sept. 1, 2019 against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. Valdez is also the first left-handed pitcher to throw a no-hitter in Astros history.
Valdez needed 93 pitches to retire the minimum 27 batters he faced. His performance was a “Maddux,” too, meaning a shutout on fewer than 100 pitches. Only Oscar Gonzalez’s fifth-inning walk prevented Valdez from a perfect game. Will Brennan bounced into a double play to erase Gonzalez at first base and extricate Valdez from the jam. The outing was vintage Valdez, a groundball clinic by a sinkerballer who thrives on early, groundball contact. Twelve of Cleveland’s outs arrived on the ground and seven more were strikeouts.
Seventy-five of Valdez’s 93 pitches were either sinkers or curveballs. Cleveland put one ball in play hit harder than 100 mph and had a .151 expected batting average. The no-hitter furthered Valdez’s ascension from unheralded, $10,000 international signee to bona fide ace.
The Guardians were no-hit three times in 2021 (plus a fourth time in a seven-inning game). Cleveland hasn’t thrown a no-hitter since Len Barker’s perfect game on May 15, 1981, the longest drought in the league.
(Photo: Logan Riely / Getty Images)
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