The offensive misfires continue, with Framber not helping at all.
Framber Valdez (11-4, 2.56 ERA) and the Astros returned for their 3rd game in a 3-game set against Lucas Giolito (7-2, 3.67 ERA) and the Boston Red Sox today at Fenway Park, trying to stave off the first sweep by Boston since 2013. With the offense reeling, an excellent start by Framber would surely help this team get right back on track and salvage a game in the series….right?
First pitch: 10:38AM (CST)
Through the first 3 innings of this rubber match, Lucas Gilito and Framber Valdez pitched as expected. Up until this point, Gio’s statline was: 1 hit, 1 walk, 1K, and 0 runs on 40+ pitches, while Framber responded with: 3 hits, 0 walks, 1K, and 0 runs given up on 43 pitches. The Astros offense yet again looked stuck in the mud, with 4 ground outs and 4 pop/fly outs being all they could muster as a unit. (This following yesterday’s game where they had 14 LOB)
This streak of futility was finally snapped when, in the top of the 4 inning, Carlos Correa hammered a deep fly ball over the left center field wall off of Giolito to make the score 1-0 Astros:
CARLOS CORREA. HOUSTON ASTRO. #BuiltForThis pic.twitter.com/eqevvczRto
— Houston Astros (@astros) August 3, 2025
This was followed by a Christian Walker pop out and Yainer Diaz groundout(GB-merchant) to end the inning.
*Warning, the text you’re about to read contains graphic depictions of failure and self-implosion, please hide your wives and children, and be mindful that continuing to read on a full stomach might lead to projectile vomiting. You have been warned. *
The Red Sox then responded with some scoring of their own in the bottom of the 4th, when Framber fell into a sequence of: a Roman Anthony leadoff double, a Romy Gonzalez walk, and a Trevor Story single to score Roman, tying the game 1-1. The damage then continued when Ceddanne Rafaela whacked a single to left field to score Romy and make it 2-1 Sox. Framber unraveled even more when, as Abraham Toro was up to bat, he was called for a balk to score Trevor Story from 3rd and now make it 3-1 Sox. The Red Sox, who have already done waaay too much scoring in this paragraph, continued hammering Framber with this sequence: Wild Pitch(advanced Rafaela to 3rd), Toro single, Wilyer Abreu successful sac-bunt attempt (that Framber can’t field!) allowing Wilyer to reach 1st and scoring Rafaela to make it 4-1, Wild Pitch(again!) and finally a Connor Wong sac-fly to right field to make it 5-1 Sox and only 1 out in the inning.. oh right, I didn’t mention that, until Wong, Framber had NO ONE out in that entire biography I just wrote. The Sox then scored one more time on a Rob Refsnyder ground out to Christian Walker at 1st to make it 6-1 Red Sox before Alex Bregman lined out to right field to end the inning. After one of the grossest innings ever experienced by mankind, the Astros offense returned to the field to start the 5th inning.
And what a response! The Astros returned the favor with a mighty… thud. Trammell popped out, Dubon struck out, and newcomer Ramon Urias flew out to center field to go down in 1-2-3 order to end the top of the 5th. Gross…again.
Framber then returned to the mound to start the bottom of the 5th now responsible for: 7 hits, 6 runs(4ER), and an ERA increasing from 2.56 to 2.78. Mercifully though, he managed a quick 5th via an Anthony ground out and 2K’s by Romy and Story.
The top of the 6th went about the same as the previous, with Altuve providing a single while Pena, Sanchez, and Correa could only add more contact outs via a couple of grounders and a flyout.
Framber then hits Rafaela with a pitch to start to bottom of the 6th, but nothing else significant happened as Toro grounded into a force out of Rafaela, Toro was then picked off while tying to steal 2nd, and Wilyer Abreu grounded out.
Another quick inning by the Astros to start the 7th (their 3rd in a row), as Walker, Diaz, and Trammell all ground out to go down in order…again.
Framber’s horrific outing is then over, as Kaleb Ort relieves him to start the bottom of the 7th. (This completed Framber’s worst outing since giving up 4 runs on July 5th against the Dodgers, and 7 runs against the Cardinals in April.)
After 2 outs, Bregman then draws a walk to bring Roman Anthony to the plate. Ort then proceeds to K up Anthony to end the inning. To the 8th the offense goes.
And for the 4th straight inning, the Astros do nothing of note, with a couple of contact outs by Dubon and Urias and a strikeout by Pena. It was another quick one for Giolito, who went 8 strong today with only the 1 homerun given up to Correa in the 4th, 3 hits total, 1 walk, and 4 K’s, and lowering his ERA from 3.67 to 3.57.
Nick Hernandez then has a quick inning of his own after he replaces Ort for the bottom of the 8th, only allowing 1 Rafaela single and a few contact outs by Gonzalez, Story, and Toro to end the inning. With one final chance to…”make a comeback” against the Sox and salvage a game in a dismal series, Altuve, Hummel, and Correa all went down in order to end the game 6-1 and complete the 3 game road sweep at the hands of the Boston Red Sox, the first of its kind since 2013.
This series loss marks the 3rd lost by the Stros’ since the All-Star break, making them 2-3 since July 18th’s series start against the Mariners. They are also 2-8 in their last 10 games, and now risk lowering their division lead against the M’s to only 2.5 games after today. (With the Rangers not that far behind at 4.0 games with a chance at 3.5 if they beat Seattle today)
After a 19-7 record in June, the Astros have nosedived to a 12-13 mark in July and now 0-3 in August, making them 12-16 as a whole and objectively playing like the worst version of themselves at the worst possible time. Framber Valdez melting down and having arguably his worst game of the season, only helped to exacerbate what was already a dire situation, with this team desperately trying to find help from anyone while waiting for a lot of help off of IL.
The offense has been a major source of their struggles for the entirety of the season, with the team scoring less than 3 runs in at least 39 games, and them having a putrid 20-39 record when scoring 3 runs or less on the season. (according to statmuse.com)
The Astros offense will try to right the ship tomorrow night against a now red-hot Miami Marlins team who are winners of their last 4 in a row, including spanking the pinstripes off of an also tail spinning New York Yankees team. (Yes, even at our worst, I have time to dunk on the Yankees.)
Jason Alexander (1-1, 7.36 ERA) gets the start tomorrow against Sandy Alcantara (6-9, 6.36 ERA), someone the Astros reportedly checked in on before Thursday’s trade deadline.