'Superior level' of concentration, efficiency fuel Valdez's no-hitter

HOUSTON -- The celebration started in the morning for the Astros, who found out via social media and group texts that future Hall of Fame pitcher Justin Verlander was headed back to H-town. The Astros had swung a blockbuster trade to bring back Verlander in a push for the playoffs with an eye on another long run into October.

That turned out to be only a precursor to an unforgettable Tuesday for the Astros -- a day capped by pitcher Framber Valdez throwing the game of his life. Valdez became the first left-handed pitcher in franchise history to throw a no-hitter by holding the Guardians to one walk while facing the minimum 27 batters in the Astros’ 2-0 win over Cleveland at Minute Maid Park.

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Only a leadoff walk to Oscar Gonzalez in the fifth inning -- one of only two three-ball counts Valdez reached -- kept Valdez from throwing a perfect game. Gonzalez was wiped out on a double play. Valdez never threw more than 14 pitches in an inning, including six pitches in the sixth and five in the seventh, and finished with 93 pitches, qualifying him for a "Maddux."

“Obviously, I had a couple of rough starts before this one and, for me, the biggest thing was just continue working hard, continue with my focus and knowing that I was going to be able to get back to where I was before then,” said Valdez, who had a 7.00 ERA in his previous five starts.

The no-hitter is the 16th in Astros history and the first complete-game no-no since Verlander threw his third career no-hitter on Sept. 1, 2019, at Toronto. The Astros threw two combined no-hitters last year, including one in Game 4 of the 2022 World Series, in games started by Cristian Javier.

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“It’s a wonderful day,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said. “He started out with a bang. … You could tell he was on and he stayed on. A lot of times, Framber will start off great and have a rough inning somewhere in between there, but today, his concentration was at a superior level.”

Concentration has always been the key for Valdez, who signed out of the Dominican Republic for $10,000 at age 21 -- a late bloomer. He battled control problems in his first two years in the big leagues in 2018-19, but turned his career around when he started regular visits with a sports psychologist, who taught him cues to control his emotions and breathing exercises.

He’s developed into one of the best left-handed pitchers in baseball -- he made his second All-Star Game this year -- but he’s still vulnerable at times to lapses in focus.

“I think the last couple of games I just wasn’t as focused as I could have been, and I’ll be the first to admit that,” he said.

“Today, I just came very focused, very positive and ready to lay it all on the field. I felt my repertoire was pretty good with my curveball, my changeup, my sinker -- all my pitches felt like they were working today and I was able to throw strikes. I just threw strikes without any fear tonight.”

The only runs the Astros scored came in the third inning when -- on the pitch following a wild pitch by Guardians starter Gavin Williams -- Kyle Tucker blooped a single to center to score Jose Altuve and Jeremy Pe?a. Valdez took it from there.

The Guardians never really came close to getting a hit off him. Valdez got 16 swings-and-misses while relying mostly on his curveball and sinker. Cleveland hit four balls harder than 95 mph and struck out seven times. Valdez recorded 12 ground ball outs and three flyouts.

“I knew he was going to pitch really good after his warmup,” said catcher Martín Maldonado, who caught his third career no-hitter. “He was executing pitches even from the warmup. I knew it was going to be a good day … not for a no-hitter. The tough thing about no-hitters is they put the ball in play a lot and it’s tough to strike out a team. It was kind of hard to think about from the beginning.”

But by the sixth inning, when Valdez had thrown only 66 pitches, Maldonado thought Valdez had a shot.

“I knew he had a chance at nine outs,” he said.

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Still, the third time through the lineup can be treacherous. Valdez made it look easy. He was at 71 pitches after the seventh, threw 10 pitches in a blink-of-the-eye eighth and got a standing ovation from the crowd of 33,703 when he came out to the mound in the ninth.

“We were contemplating about getting [closer Ryan] Pressly up in case he got in trouble, but I said 'no' because Framber is very aware when guys are getting up in the bullpen,” Baker said. “A couple of times he’s like, ‘Man why did you get somebody up? I had only 75 pitches.’ [Pitching coach Josh] Miller looked at me and Miller said 'no,' and I said 'no'. We were not even going to get anybody up. That was his game.”

Valdez got Gabriel Arias to ground out to second base for the first out in the ninth. Then, former teammate Myles Straw flied out to center for the second out. The anticipation was high as Cam Gallagher came to bat. He hit a soft line drive to Pe?a at shortstop for the final out.

The Astros rushed the team to congratulate Valdez. Fireworks went off in the outfield.

Let the celebration begin. Again.

“When I got to the seventh inning, I thought to myself, ‘OK, I think I can finish this game without any hits,’” Valdez said. “Got the eighth inning and still felt good, felt like it was still the first inning, so I said I’m going to continue attacking the hitters and try to do my best out there."