Backed by 4 HRs, Valdez takes no-no into 7th in Astros' win

HOUSTON -- Framber Valdez threw another impressive outing, and the Astros got the long ball working in a big way Saturday.

Valdez took a no-hitter into the seventh inning, and Yordan Alvarez hit two of Houston’s four home runs as the Astros defeated the Twins, 5-2, at Minute Maid Park.

The left-hander yielded one run on two hits, striking out four across seven innings. It was his second straight quality start and seventh time in nine starts this season that he has allowed three runs or fewer.

Valdez -- who threw a no-hitter against the Guardians last August -- said he was starting to think about the no-no after the sixth inning.

“I always tell myself that once you get through six innings with a no-hitter, you got to try to finish it, and whatever happens, happens,” Valdez said in Spanish through an interpreter. “If you give up the hit, you give up the hit, but you’ve got to go with the mindset of trying to finish the no-hitter.”

Valdez retired 16 of the first 18 batters he faced before allowing a Manuel Margot leadoff single in the seventh.

“I thought he threw the ball really well,” manager Joe Espada said. “He had a no-hitter through six. Ground balls, seven of them. He got some big double plays when he needed to. That’s Framber -- when he starts to get some quick outs, ground balls, it keeps our defense involved. We needed a start like that today.”

The left-hander relied heavily on his sinker, throwing it 56% of the time (48 of 85 pitches). He didn’t get many swings and misses on the day, with the Twins only whiffing six times on 33 swings, but Minnesota could only manage soft contact against Valdez, with the maximum exit velocity topping out at 93.7 mph.

“I felt good from the beginning with my pitches,” Valdez said. “They were doing what I wanted them to do, and I was able to throw them in the strike zone and the location I wanted to throw them.”

Astros pitching got some defensive assistance as well.

Kyle Tucker robbed Kyle Farmer of a likely extra-base hit with a nice jumping grab against the wall in right in the third. Jake Meyers took away extra bases from Byron Buxton in the ninth, making a leaping catch above his head at the center-field wall.

On the offensive side, Alvarez, who finished with three hits, launched a two-run homer to the second level in right in the first inning before lifting a solo home run to right in the fifth.

“I felt like the Yordan that people are accustomed to,” Alvarez said in Spanish through an interpreter.

Alvarez said he started using Mauricio Dubón’s bats on Friday, but he used a different model on Saturday.

He tied Bob Horner with his 18th multihomer game in his 540th career appearance -- a mark that trails only Ralph Kiner, who had 20, for the most multihomer games through a player's first 540 career games in AL/NL history.

It was Alvarez’s third multihomer game of the season.

“He’s been on the cusp of starting to get hot, but he got some good pitches to hit,” Espada said. “Really good at-bats from Yordan. All of these guys, we really battled. We were facing another good right-handed pitcher today [Twins starter Joe Ryan]. We put some good at-bats together.”

José Abreu launched a 3-2 pitch to right field in the second for his first home run of the season. Abreu had three home runs and eight RBIs in the ALDS against the Twins last season. Abreu improved to 3-for-13 since returning from his month-long Minor League stint.

“He’s starting to show the capability of taking the ball to the opposite field that we’ve seen him do for many, many years,” Espada said. “When he gets it in the air, and the ball is leaving the ballpark, it’s a great sign.”

Tucker took a full-count offering to right in the third for a solo home run, his 19th long ball of the season.

Houston has won two of its last three and is trying to build on a 15-14 month of May.

“The thing since I arrived here is whenever we’re going through a rough patch, the whole team is going through a rough patch,” Alvarez said. “The same thing when everyone is clicking, everyone is clicking at the same time. … Obviously, this year, that is something that we’ve been dealing with, I don’t think that’s a surprise to anyone, but I do think that we have the team that we can win 10, 12 games in a row.”