Valdez works around traffic, delay in 'solid' start

HOUSTON -- One question that arose heading into the Astros’ 3-2 loss to the Padres on Sunday was, which early-season version of Framber Valdez will show up?

In a March and April that has been a series of extremes for the left-hander -- either extremely good, or extremely ineffective -- Valdez, in this outing, was more in line with what the Astros will need from their ace this year. He kept them in the game, provided length, and managed to not get rattled early, even when a scary situation turned into a long delay and could have derailed the night.

Valdez was only eight pitches into his outing when Luis Arraez, sprinting down the first-base line, collided with Mauricio Dubón and fell to the ground, seemingly unable to move. The game was delayed 11 minutes while medical personnel attended to Arraez, who was carted off the field. Arraez was taken to a nearby hospital, and the Padres soon confirmed he was stable, conscious, responsive and able to move his extremities.

Players from both teams were outwardly concerned right after the collision happened -- including Valdez, who had already issued a walk to Fernando Tatis Jr. to open the game.

When play resumed, there was another brief delay when Manny Machado fouled one of the 12 pitches he saw from Valdez off his leg. Machado eventually drew a walk, and after Xander Bogaerts reached on a Dubón error, Oscar Gonzales doubled. He was the fifth of six batters Valdez faced in the first inning; by the time the frame concluded, Valdez’s pitch count was up to 25.

But Valdez got back on track quickly, and stayed in through the sixth, leaving with 87 pitches thrown, while holding the Padres to two runs. It was not a perfect outing, nor was it the best of his five this season. But it was more in line with what the Astros are accustomed to getting from their veteran lefty, and a vast improvement over his prior start -- a seven-run, four-inning clunker in a loss to the Cardinals.

“I really thought that he handled the delay in that first inning very well,” manager Joe Espada said. “We got seven groundouts to four flyouts. He had his stuff working, he got some ground balls when he had to. I thought he gave us a quality start. He gave us a chance to win.”

There wasn’t a lot for Valdez to do while the medical staff tended to Arraez. Most players were frozen, simply watching the scene unfold. This situation was different from what happens with less severe injuries, where players are comfortable diverting their attention in order to stay warmed up while play is stopped.

Valdez spent some of the 11 minutes on both knees, to give his legs a rest. He later downplayed any concerns he may have had that the layoff would affect him when it was time to ramp up again.

“I felt bad,” Valdez said of Arraez’s injury. “We don't want that stuff happening to us. Hopefully he's okay. And I was fine. I just started warming up again, and I felt fine.

“I was trying to keep myself stretched, [11 minutes] is a lot of time. You get hot, you get cold. So simply, I was just trying to stay stretched out.”

At least one Padres hitter reached base in each of Valdez’s six innings of work, but he limited San Diego to single runs in the first and third. Espada lauded “the shape of” Valdez’s sinker, noting it was better than in the St. Louis start.

“I thought he threw it [in] the right counts where he needed a ground ball,” Espada said. “Really tough lineup. I thought he did a really good job of just going through that lineup three times. It was a pretty solid job.”

Valdez was a little harder on himself than his manager, admitting the sinker -- which accounted for a little over half the pitches he threw -- was better, but still not where he wants it to be.

“Right now, it's not getting the results that I want, but I know that time will come where the sinker is going to do what I want it to do,” said. “I don't know the reason. I'm just trying to throw in the zone. Unfortunately, the other hitters are getting hits out of it, but I'm just trying to throw in the zone and control what I can.”

Though the loss prevented the Astros from climbing over the .500 mark, Valdez’s performance might have some carryover as he eyes his next start, this weekend in Kansas City.

“I just want to stay focused. … It feels good to take this on and be out there,” he said.