Framber Valdez just misses no-hitter, but keeps right on rolling for Astros

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Framber Valdez just missed his second career no-hitter, a few days more than a year after his first.

The Houston left-hander still got the victory in a streak of starts that has kept rolling even as the Astros cooled off.

Valdez was a strike away from a no-hitter against the rival Texas Rangers before a walk and Corey Seager's two-run homer in the Astros' 4-2 win on Tuesday night. Closer Josh Hader came on for his 23rd consecutive save as soon as Valdez lost his no-hit bid.

It was just the third win in nine games for Houston, and came a night after the Astros gave up Josh Smith's game-ending, two-run homer in a 4-3 victory in 10 innings for their Texas rival and the defending World Series champion.

“The team needed that win,” Houston manager Joe Espada said. “Framber to go deep, kind of give our bullpen a little break there. Even though we had to use Josh, it was a really great team win.”

Valdez is 6-0 over his past eight starts, and he has two of the three wins over the 3-6 stretch, which followed a 30-game surge (21-9 record) that briefly pushed Houston past Seattle atop the AL West.

With the Astros' victory and Seattle's loss to Detroit later Tuesday, Houston is a half-game back. The Rangers are five behind in a division that isn't likely to include an AL wild card.

Valdez (11-5) had to settle for getting 26 outs on a night he took a perfect game into the sixth inning and had still faced the minimum of 18 batters through six when a double play wiped out third baseman Alex Bregman's throwing error.

Another double play after a walk in the ninth put the 30-year-old on the brink of Houston's second no-hitter this season ( Ronel Blanco threw one April 1 ). Seager's fifth homer in five games spoiled it.

“He was good all night,” Seager said. “He just didn’t throw anything in the middle of the plate. Tip your cap to a guy who can go out and locate every pitch that well all game.”

Valdez's first no-hitter was a 2-0 victory over Cleveland on Aug. 1, 2023. Four starts later, the two-time All-Star threw seven no-hit innings in a 4-1 loss to Detroit.

Over the past eight starts this season, Valdez has allowed two or fewer runs five times. And in his most recent loss, he gave up just two hits in six innings in a 2-0 loss to the Chicago White Sox.

“You’ve got your hands full when he’s on top of his game,” Texas manager Bruce Bochy said. “He’s done that to a lot of teams.”

A shaky second half in 2023 left questions about whether Valdez was still the staff ace, even though his streak of consecutive opening day starts reached three this year when Justin Verlander was injured.

Verlander was with the New York Mets to start 2023 but returned to the Astros before the trade deadline a year ago.

While Verlander is close to returning from a neck injury, Valdez is showing top-of-the-rotation form. His latest outing came against the team that beat him twice in the AL Championship Series last year.

Now Valdez just has to push aside the disappointment of such a close call as the Astros focus on yet another pennant race after seven consecutive trips to the ALCS.

“I'm happy,” he said through an interpreter. “Not everybody gets a no-hitter all the way to the ninth inning. The most important thing is the team won, I won. And I battled.”

And kept right on rolling.

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