Framber Valdez was arguably at his best, or close to it, against the Rays on Friday evening. Across nine innings, he allowed only three hits, one walk, and one run while striking out nine on only 83 pitches. All three of his pitches — sinker, curveball, and changeup — were working quite well, with his curveball and changeup generating 11 of his 13 whiffs. Most importantly, Valdez kept his sinker low in the strike zone.
Aside from José Caballero’s solo home run on Valdez’s second pitch of the game, the Astros’ left-hander encountered few challenges with Tampa Bay’s lineup, except for a scare in the ninth inning when the Rays had two runners on base with only one out. Throwing out Taylor Wells as he attempted to steal third base turned the tide, with Yandy Díaz’s groundout one batter later ending the threat.
As much as the Rays had issues against Valdez, the Astros’ lineup wasn’t much better against Ryan Pepiot. The first 6 2⁄3 innings, all from Pepiot, saw Houston hitters do little with only two hits and a lone walk. It wasn’t until Kevin Kelly in the eighth inning that the Astros finally scored their first run, with Zach Dezenzo driving Jake Meyers following his leadoff double to start the bottom half of the inning.
Although Valdez escaped a jam in the top half of the ninth, it unfortunately appeared as if extra innings were incoming. Garrett Cleavinger struck out Jose Altuve and Christian Walker, with Yainer Díaz coming up to bat. It certainly felt like extra innings were happening for me…
Never mind my feelings; those were clearly wrong this day as Díaz hit a walk-off home run a handful of rows in right field.
There you have it, the Astros won a walk-off. Valdez also looked great. Not only that, but they’re now 31-26 on the season and in first place in the AL West by a half game over the Mariners. That’s a good start to the weekend!
Saturday’s game will see the Astros send Colton Gordon to the mound opposite Zack Littell.