HOUSTON — The third no-hitter of the season was thrown Tuesday night in Houston.
This time, Astros left-hander Framber Valdez shut down the Cleveland Guardians in a 2-0 victory. On the same day the Astros got Justin Verlander back in a trade with the New York Mets, Valdez threw a gem against the Guardians in which he only walked one batter and struck out seven.
Ironically, the last time an Astros starter pitched a complete game, it was Verlander when he threw a no-hitter in 2019.
Valdez is now 9-7 on the season with a 3.07 ERA across 135 innings.
Hosts Brett Chancey and Eric Huysman of Locked On Astros celebrated Valdez’s no-hitter on a recent episode of the show.
“This was one of the games when you’re like, ‘Oh, this is happening,’” Huysman said. “But Framber Valdez, to his credit, I know he’s had some issues with just not being able to focus at times, but he really went out there and focused in this game.”
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After the game, Valdez spoke to reporters through his interpreter and said, "I just went out there and tried to do the best that I could,. Just tried to go out there being very positive. When I got to the seventh inning, I thought to myself, 'OK, I think I can finish this game without any hits.' Got to the eighth inning, I still felt good, I felt like it was still the first inning. So I kept attacking the hitters, trying to do my best out there."
Valdez needed this type of start in the worst way. In his previous five starts, he had struggled while pitching to a 7.00 ERA. “Obviously, I had a couple of rough starts before this one and, for me, the biggest thing was just continue working hard, continue with my focus and knowing that I was going to be able to get back to where I was before then.”
From ESPN Stats and Info: Valdez only needed 93 pitches to get the no-hitter making it the third fewest pitches in a no-hitter or perfect game since 1988. Daryl Kile threw only 83 pitches in his no-hitter back in 1990, while David Cone threw 88 in his perfect game in 1999.
On June 28, New York Yankees starter Domingo Germán threw a perfect game against the Oakland A’s, and on July 8, three Detroit Tigers pitchers - Matt Manning, Jason Foley, and Alex Lange - combined to no-hit the Toronto Blue Jays.
Now, Valdez joins the list with his no-no over the Guardians.
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