Framber Valdez takes the mound to stop the slide
Four is the number. Four is the length of the current Astros’ losing streak. And four is the number of games the Astros lead both the Rangers and Mariners for first place in the AL West.
Will the Astros’ slide continue tonight? Framber Valdez is starting, and the team has won his last 13 starts. And the Nats’ lineup is about as bad as the third-stringers the injured Astros are forced to use currently on a nightly basis.
The cavalry is starting to arrive. Second-stringer Jacob Melton returns from IL tonight straight into the starting lineup to hopefully provide some of the left-handed punch in the lineup he began to provide before his ankle injury.
Here are the lineups:
