Move aside, Justin Verlander. You’re no longer the biggest Houston Astros story from Tuesday night.
Framber Valdez threw a 93-pitch no-hitter against the Cleveland Guardians on the night his team reunited with Verlander in a trade with the New York Mets prior to the MLB trade deadline.
Valdez’s dominance was the 16th no-hitter thrown in Astros history, as the 2-0 shutout was capped by a blooper to shortstop Jeremy Peña, who snagged it to secure history.
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And as it turns out, Verlander was the last Houston starter to throw a no-hitter across nine innings of baseball in 2019.
Valdez’s no-hitter also sits as the fourth-lowest amount of pitches a starter has needed to complete one in MLB history. It’s also the lowest amount of pitches since David Cone’s 88-pitch perfect game with the New York Yankees in 1999.
Valdez is also the first left in Astros history to record a no-hitter.
At the Astros’ home Minute Maid Field, the crowd went ballistic as Valdez’s teammates rushed to him to celebrate the moment.
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Valdez, who is in the conversation for the American League Cy Young Award this season, now owns a 3.07 ERA after not allowing a single run or hit, while striking out seven and walking one on his fantastic night.
A perfect game was in the mix in this outing until Valdez issued a leadoff walk in the top of the fifth inning, leaving only the no-hitter intact. A double play would later make that walk go away quickly to end the inning.
No-hitters are nothing new to the Astros organization, as they threw two combined no-hitters during their World Series-winning campaign last year, one of which came in that final series against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Valdez joins New York Yankees starter Domingo German, who threw a perfect game against the Oakland Athletics in June, as the only two starters to have individual no-hitters this season.
Because of Valdez’s performance, the Astros needed just two runs to pick up their 61st win of the season. It was Kyle Tucker’s two-RBI single in the bottom of the third that ended up being the decisive swing of the bat to notch the victory.
What would’ve been the cherry on top of this lovely Tuesday for Astros fans is a Texas Rangers loss to the Chicago White Sox. However, they also won 2-0 to remain half-a-game up on the Astros for possession of the AL West lead.
Nonetheless, the Astros and their fan base are going wild for Valdez, who displayed pure dominance at home to add to a tremendous day for baseball in Houston.
