HOUSTON — Presuming he doesn’t make a change in the middle of an inning, Joe Espada ends every one of his starting pitcher’s outings with a handshake. Results don’t alter the routine, so Espada reprises it in the face of horror or history. On Friday, Framber Valdez attempted to author the latter.
Six outs away from a second career no-hitter, Valdez descended the dugout steps and discovered his manager did not extend his hand. Instead, Espada guided Valdez downstairs toward the Houston Astros’ clubhouse. Pitching coach Josh Miller followed, freeing the trio from cameras capturing their every move.
Valdez fell one strike short of history during his first start of this magical month. His final ended two innings shy of a feat only 35 other pitchers have accomplished. Neither Valdez nor Espada made much of a fuss about such an agonizing decision. Through an interpreter, Valdez called it “my option” to depart the game without allowing a hit.
“You want those guys to accomplish that. Those are personal goals, but me as a manager, I’m thinking more of the team and I’m thinking about where he’s at when he comes off the mound,” Espada said after a 3-2 win over the Kansas City Royals.
“You have to gauge based on what you see and what you hear from him. We have a really good bullpen. That makes my decision a little bit easier, when you have guys in the back end there that you can rely on.”
IT’S LOUD IN THE JUICE BOX. pic.twitter.com/F6MXAwulcJ
— Houston Astros (@astros) August 31, 2024
If Espada’s explanation sounds more rehearsed, it is. He’s repeated it twice already this season, including Wednesday afternoon in Philadelphia. An Astros starter has carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning five times during Espada’s first 135 games as a major-league manager. Two of them occurred within the last three days.
Espada’s first managerial victory arrived after Ronel Blanco no-hit the Toronto Blue Jays on April 1. His 33rd came after pulling Blanco from another no-hit bid against the Detroit Tigers on June 16. Blanco threw 94 pitches, walked three and struck out eight across seven innings.
On Friday, Valdez needed 98 pitches to walk three and strike out seven. Josh Hader’s blown save and Jose Altuve’s walk-off double rendered the start somewhat of a footnote, but it did provide a blueprint of how this team has to win now and if it reaches the postseason.
“They’re giving us an opportunity every day to win,” Altuve said. “Obviously, that’s good on a team like this with good hitters, and if they give us a chance to score runs and win games, it’s going to be huge.”
It is how these Astros must accomplish anything of substance this season. After spending the first half masquerading as a club predicated on run production, it is apparent run prevention will have to propel this team to a pennant.
“I thought it was a normal outing: seven innings, no runs, no hits,” Valdez said through an interpreter. “I thought it was a good, normal outing and the team won the game.”
Nothing about this is standard, even if Houston’s starters are making it seem so. Since 2019, the Astros pitching staff has taken 17 no-hitters through seven innings. No other major-league team has more than eight.
Valdez’s latest historical flirtation pared Houston’s rotation ERA to a major-league-low 2.48 since Aug. 1. The Astros also boast baseball’s lowest team ERA across those 27 games. They’ve allowed four or fewer earned runs in 20 of them.
“Nothing short of shoved,” outfielder Ben Gamel said.
Gamel has been an Astro for eight days. The 32-year-old journeyman appeared in 703 major-league games prior to his arrival in Houston. Gamel patrolled left field behind Seattle Mariners left-hander James Paxton during his no-hitter in 2018. Six seasons later, within a span of three days, he nearly saw two more.
“I think having so much faith in those guys takes pressure off of us one through nine,” Gamel said, “and you have the veteran presence at the top of the lineup. Those guys, they don’t miss.”
Gamel hit seventh in Houston’s lineup Friday. One spot ahead of him sat Jason Heyward, a man who contemplated retirement before the Astros called last week. Gamel’s third-inning solo home run into the Crawford Boxes represented all of the lineup’s production against Royals starter Seth Lugo.
Valdez pitched like someone who needed only a single run. He faced the minimum across five innings and allowed two runners into scoring position through his outing. Kansas City whiffed on 14 of the 33 swings it took against Valdez’s curveball and changeup. Six of his seven punchouts concluded on the curveball.
“I didn’t even need a glove out there today,” Gamel said. “It’s a 97 mph sinker with a wipeout breaking ball. Their guys didn’t look like they had an answer for anything. Hats off to (catcher Yainer Diaz) behind the plate, too, putting down the right fingers. It didn’t really look like he could put down the wrong one today.”
To approach history, though, everything must align. Imprecise command of his sinker put Valdez behind in too many counts early in the game. First-base umpire Phil Cuzzi’s questionable no-call on a checked swing against Freddy Fermin prolonged Valdez’s final frame, a 20-pitch seventh during which he faced five hitters.
Espada determined he’d face no more. Valdez didn’t disagree.
“The most important thing,” Valdez said, “was that we won the game.”
(Photo of Framber Valdez: Jack Gorman / Getty Images)
