HOUSTON (AP) — Framber Valdez was determined to improve this month after a subpar July where he posted a 7.29 ERA.
On the first day of August he certainly did that.
Valdez threw the 16th no-hitter in Houston Astros history in a 2-0 victory over the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday night.
“The last couple of games I just wasn’t as focused as I could have been and I’ll be the first to admit that,” Valdez said in Spanish through a translator. “But today I just came very focused, very positive and just ready to leave it all out on the field.”
Hours after the Astros reacquired ace Justin Verlander from the New York Mets, Valdez allowed just one baserunner on a walk in the fifth inning, but still faced the minimum thanks to a double play in that frame. He threw 93 pitches, with 65 strikes.
“It’s a wonderful day,” manager Dusty Baker said. “(Valdez) started out with a bang. He had his breaking ball from the very beginning … and you could tell he was on and he stayed on.”
Gabriel Arias grounded out to start the ninth before Myles Straw lined out to center field. Cam Gallagher then lined out to Jeremy Pena to end it and set off the celebration.
Valdez (9-7) raised his arms above his head and then clapped as a huge smile crossed his face. He’s the first left-hander to throw a no-hitter for Houston.
“When I got to the seventh inning I thought to myself, ‘OK, I can finish this game without any hits,’” Valdez said. “Got to the eighth inning and still felt good, felt like it was still the first inning so I said. `I’m just going to continue attacking the hitters, trying to do my best out there.’”
The 29-year-old from the Dominican Republic had pitched five complete games, including two complete game shutouts before Tuesday’s gem.
Catcher Martín Maldonado caught the third no-hitter of his career. He said he could tell from Valdez’s warmup that he would have a good night.
“I noticed from the bullpen, he wasn’t joking around,” Maldonado said. “He was straight business from the moment he walked out there.”
Maldonado had a simple answer as to what made Valdez so special Tuesday night.
“Just Framber being Framber,” he said.
Indeed, Valdez relies heavily on getting groundouts, and this game was no different. Valdez entered the game first in the AL in groundball percentage at 54.7 and 12 of his outs against the Guardians were on groundouts.
