On the day that the Houston Astros brought Justin Verlander back in a trade, another ace in Framber Valdez stepped up with a pristine no-hitter.
Before Tuesday night, the last Houston Astros pitcher to throw a no-hitter was Justin Verlander on Sept. 1, 2019. On the day that Houston traded to bring Verlander back to the Astros, Framber Valdez decided to welcome the reigning AL Cy Young winner back witha no-no of his own.
Taking the mound against the Cleveland Guardians, Valdez only needed 93 pitches to keep the Guards out of the box score and off of the basepaths save for a fifth-inning walk issued to Oscar Gonzalez. But he also only faced the minimum 27 batters on the night after Will Brennan grounded into a double play to end that inning.
With his dominant showing, Valdez also became the first Astros left-handed pitcher to throw a no-hitter.
It's a good thing that Valdez delivered that performance too. The Astros netted just two runs on the night, needing a dominant pitching outing to get the win. Valdez clearly delivered that and more with the 16th no-hitter in Astros history.
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On a big day for the Astros pitching staff, fans in Houston and baseball fans at large had plenty to say reacting to Framber Valdez delivering a phenomenal no-hitter.
Talk about a helluva day in Houston. Getting Verlander back is huge for the Astros as they try to return to the World Series. And ironically, that move was necessitated by Valdez needing a bit more help in the rotation.
Houston has been dealt a bad injury hand this season with Lance McCullers Jr. and Luis Garcia both undergoing season-ending surgery and Luis Garcia missing much of the year. Valdez has been the ace since Verlander's offseason departure in free agency. That's obviously not going to change after the acquisition.
And if there was any doubt about that, Valdez put it to bed on Tuesday — along with all nine Guardians hitters, three times apiece.
