Houston Astros starting pitcher Framber Valdez was not the talk of the MLB world heading into his start against the Cleveland Guardians Tuesday evening.
Rather, that distinction went to three-time Cy Young winner Justin Verlander. The future Hall of Famer was re-acquired by Houston from the New York Mets ahead of the MLB trade deadline.
It didn’t take Valdez long to make his own news. The veteran threw a 93-pitch no-hitter in a 2-0 win over the Guardians Tuesday evening. How good was Valdez? He was just one walk away from throwing a perfect game. The two-time All-Star also threw 65 of his 93 pitches for strikes while fanning seven Guardians hitters. It was a thing of beauty.
Valdez’s no-hitter represents the first solo feat for Houston since the aforementioned Verlander no hit the Toronto Blue Jays four years ago next month. It is also just the Astros’ fifth non-combined no-hitter since the great Nolan Ryan did his thing against the Los Angeles Dodgers back in 1981.
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Framber Valdez no-hitter and new-look Houston Astros rotation
It is pretty stunning that this no-hitter came mere hours after Verlander rejoined an Astros team he’s helped to two World Series titles. It is also part of a broader new-look Astros starting rotation.
Valdez, Cristian Javier (4.33 ERA), Hunter Brown (4.12 ERA) and J.P. France (2.85 ERA) have been mainstays in the Astros’ rotation. José Urquidy is also slated to return from the injured list here soon.
In an American League West that took part in an arms race ahead of the deadline, Houston’s rotation is looking as strong as ever. It will need to be with the Texas Rangers currently atop the division by a half game and after they acquired Max Scherzer in a blockbuster trade with the New York Mets.