So close yet so far away.
On Tuesday night in Arlington, Texas, Houston Astros’ left-hander Framber Valdez came just one out away from recording his second career no hitter. With two down in the ninth inning, and a runner on first, due to Valdez allowing a walk, one of his three surrendered to the Texas Rangers on the night; the 30-year-old, of Palenque, Dominican Republic, gave up a two-run blast to Rangers’ shortstop Corey Seager.
Corey Seager hits a 2-run homer to break up Framber Valdez's no-hit bid with 2 outs in the 9th! pic.twitter.com/aOJzl3AXMN
— MLB (@MLB) August 7, 2024
Following the no-hit bid coming to an end, Valdez, already with a no-no under his belt from last season, was removed from the game and relieved by Houston’s southpaw Josh Hader, who closed the door on Texas to complete a 4-2 Astros win.
“I’m happy,” said Valdez after the victory through a team-interpreter. “Not everybody gets to get a no-hitter all the way to the ninth inning. For me, the most important thing is the team won, I won and I battled. I’m just happy.”
The two-time All-Star finished with five strikeouts across 8.2 innings, while throwing 107 pitches total, 67 for strikes.
Framber Valdez dominó la lomita. 🔥
8.2 IP | 1 H | 2 ER | 3 BB | 5K pic.twitter.com/bh80qBhph5
— MLB Dominicana (@MLBDominicana) August 7, 2024
If he was to finish off Seager, and record the ‘no-no,’ Valdez would have become the first-ever Dominican Republic-born MLB pitcher to record two-career no-hitters.
Yordan’s Milestone
Even though there was no no-hitter on Tuesday evening, there was a milestone achieved at the plate, as Yordan Alvarez (2022 AL LatinoMVP) clobbered a two-run home run in the top of the ninth to mark his 150th career blast.
YORGONE ALVAREZ.#RELENTLESS pic.twitter.com/q7E4mh9Wve
— Houston Astros (@astros) August 7, 2024
Alvarez, 27, from Las Tunas, Cuba, became the fastest player in the franchise’s history to reach 150 career home runs, and hit the mark by a wide margin — 1. Alvarez: 590 games, and 2. George Springer: 723 games.
“The team needed that win,” said Astros manager Joe Espada following the win to move to 58-55 on the year. “Framber to go deep, and kind of give our bullpen a little break there, even though we had to use Josh (Hader). But it was a really great team win, Yordan two-run homer…
We kind of needed a team win like that.”
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