Astros’ Framber Valdez throws no-hitter vs Guardians on 93 pitches

Framber Valdez was determined to improve this month after a subpar July where he posted a 7.29 ERA.

On the first day of August he definitely did that.

Valdez threw the 16th no-hitter in Houston Astros history in a 2-0 triumph over the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday night.

“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,” Valdez said in Spanish through a translator. “But today I just came very focused, very positive and just ready to leave it all out on the field.”

Hours after the Astros reacquired ace Justin Verlander from the New York Mets, Valdez permitted just one baserunner on a walk in the fifth inning, but still faced the minimum thanks to a double play in that frame. He threw 93 pitches, with 65 strikes.

“It’s a wonderful day,” manager Dusty Baker said. “(Valdez) started out with a bang. He had his breaking ball from the very beginning … and you could tell he was on and he stayed on.”

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Gabriel Arias grounded out to start the ninth before Myles Straw lined out to center field. 

Cam Gallagher then lined out to Jeremy Pena to end it and set off the celebration.

Valdez (9-7) raised his arms above his head and then clapped as a huge smile crossed his face. He’s the first left-hander to throw a no-hitter for Houston.

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

The 29-year-old from the Dominican Republic had pitched five complete matches, including two complete game shutouts before Tuesday’s gem.

Catcher Martín Maldonado caught the third no-hitter of his career. He said he could tell from Valdez’s warmup that he would have a good night.

“I noticed from the bullpen, he wasn’t joking around,” Maldonado said. “He was straight business from the moment he walked out there.”

Maldonado had a simple answer as to what made Valdez so special Tuesday night.

“Just Framber being Framber,” he said.

Indeed, Valdez relies heavily on getting groundouts, and this game was no different. Valdez entered the game first in the AL in groundball percentage at 54.7 and 12 of his outs versus the Guardians were on groundouts.

“It’s easy to see the two-seam movement, but his curveball — man just so good and he threw a couple changeups,” Cleveland manager Terry Francona said. “But his curveball was really good.”

The no-hitter was the third in the majors this season. New York Yankees right-hander Domingo Germán pitched a perfect game at Oakland on June 28, and Matt Manning, Alex Lange and Jason Foley of the Detroit Tigers threw a combined no-no versus Toronto on July 8.

It’s Houston’s first no-hitter in the regular season since Cristian Javier, Hector Neris and Ryan Pressly combined to no-hit the Yankees on June 25, 2022, and the first by a single pitcher since Verlander against Toronto on Sept. 1, 2019.

Josh Bell was originally in Cleveland’s lineup Tuesday but was scratched after the team made a late deal to send him to Miami for infielder Jean Segura and infield prospect Kahlil Watson.

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