Framber Valdez of the Houston Astros threw the second solo no-hitter of the season on Tuesday, shutting down the Cleveland Guardians in a 2-0 win Tuesday evening.
Valdez wanted solely 93 pitches to carve by the Cleveland lineup, hanging out seven. He confronted the minimal 27 batters as a result of the Astros turned a double play after the lone baserunner he allowed, a stroll to Oscar Gonzalez to steer off the highest of the fifth inning. In keeping with Baseball Reference, it was solely the thirty fourth time in Main League Baseball’s fashionable period wherein a pitcher confronted the minimal variety of hitters in a nine-inning no-hitter.
In a Houston franchise with a storied pitching historical past — Nolan Ryan, J.R. Richard, Gerrit Cole and the Cy Younger Award winners Mike Scott, Roger Clemens and Justin Verlander — Valdez threw the sixteenth Astros no-hitter. He stands alone, nevertheless, as the one left-hander inside that group. He accomplished the efficiency by inducing a smooth lineout from Guardians catcher Cam Gallagher to shortstop Jeremy Peña.
Valdez primarily depends on his sinker and his curveball, which has one of many highest spin charges within the league. On Tuesday, Cleveland’s batters missed practically half the time they swung at it. The Guardians fell to 53-55 however are solely two video games behind first-place Minnesota within the lackluster American League Central.
Valdez’s no-hitter got here simply hours after the passage of M.L.B.’s buying and selling deadline, with a number of groups, together with his Astros, making strikes to higher place themselves for the stretch run. Houston on Tuesday reacquired Verlander, who had signed with the Mets within the low season after successful the 2022 A.L. Cy Younger Award with the Astros. Final week, Houston traded with the Chicago White Sox to land the right-handed reliever Kendall Graveman, who helped the crew attain the 2021 World Collection. And late final month the slugging outfielder Yordan Alvarez and the star second baseman Jose Altuve returned from the injured listing.
The Astros have change into regulars within the A.L. Championship Collection and are hoping to make a 3rd consecutive World Collection look, however first they must chase down the Texas Rangers within the A.L. West. Houston trails by solely a half recreation, however Texas bolstered its roster forward of the deadline, too, making a take care of the Mets for the right-handed starter Max Scherzer and shoring up its catching depth by including Austin Hedges.
Valdez, a 29-year-old Dominican, has factored closely into Houston’s success over the past three seasons. Getting into Tuesday, he had the Tenth-best E.R.A. amongst certified starters from 2021-23 and the 14th-most wins above substitute, in accordance with Fangraphs. He earned his second profession All-Star choice final month.