*Photo from the Houston Chronicle*
What a day the trade deadline day was for Houston. Kyle Tucker drove in two runs, Framber Valdez made history, and the Houston Astros defeated the Cleveland Guardians by a 2-0 score on Tuesday night in Houston.
The day started for the Astros when they traded top prospects Drew Gilbert and Ryan Clifford to the New York Mets in exchange for Justin Verlander, bringing the two time World Champion back to Houston for the rest of 2023, all of 2024, and potentially 2025 as well.
Valdez ended the day on a high note for the Astros, tossing a no hitter in front of the home crowd. It's the 5th no hitter the Astros have thrown since 2019 and the first since a combined no hitter in game 4 of last year's World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies. They also threw a combined no hitter in the regular season last year against the New York Yankees.
Houston manager Dusty Baker said of Valdez's no hitter after the game that "It's a wonderful day. 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."
After the first two innings were scoreless, Tucker provided the Astros offense in the 3rd inning. With Jeremy Pena and Jose Altuve on base, Tucker singled them both in, giving the Astros a 2-0 lead. Valdez took care of the rest to secure the win.
Valdez walked one hitter and struck out 7 in the no hitter, becoming the 16th Astros pitcher to throw a no hitter. The one walk is the only baserunner he allowed, facing the minimum of 27 batters while throwing 93 pitches. He also becomes the first lefty pitcher in team history to throw a no hitter.
Asked about how he came into the start, Valdez said "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. 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."
Gavin Williams allowed two runs on 4 hits and 4 walks in 5 innings for the Guardians, taking the loss. Xzavion Curry pitched the next 1 2/3 innings before Sam Hentges finished the 7th. Enyel De Los Santos then provided a scoreless inning in the 8th.
Cleveland catcher Cam Gallagher said after the game that "We’re going play with the guys that are in here. There’s no excuses. There’s no looking for answers. We have the answers right here in this clubhouse. This is what we get paid to do, and we’re gonna go out there and play and give it everything we got. So we’ll look past this one, look forward to tomorrow and try to salvage a win."
The series concludes on Wednesday afternoon. Ronel Blanco starts for the Astros as they go for a sweep, while the Guardians try to salvage the finale with Tanner Bibee getting the start.
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