Homers get 'out of hand' for ground-ball specialist Valdez

HOUSTON -- It began with a single and then a walk, and suddenly the Angels were back in the game on a three-run homer by Nolan Schanuel. That was just the start of a nightmarish fifth inning for Astros starter Framber Valdez, who left Minute Maid Park on Monday after one of the worst starts of his career.

Valdez gave up a career-high-tying eight runs, seven of which came in the fifth inning as the Angels sent 10 batters to the plate and used three-run homers by Schanuel and Logan O’Hoppe to storm back from five runs down and hand the Astros a 9-7 loss. It was Houston’s largest blown lead of the season.

“He started leaving some pitches in the heart of the plate and they put some really good swings on them,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “His stuff was really good -- sinker, curveball -- just that fifth inning he lost the feel for the zone and they put some really good swings on them.”

Valdez had allowed only two homers in 36 2/3 innings this season entering his start Monday, and he had never allowed more than two homers in a game in his career. His only other eight-run game came on Sept. 6, 2020, in seven innings against the Angels.

“Things got out of hand there,” Valdez said. “The game started off well and sometimes things happened.”

Schanuel’s homer cut the Astros’ lead to 6-4 and earned Valdez a visit from pitching coach Josh Miller. Valdez retired Luis Rengifo for the second out before consecutive singles by Taylor Ward and Kevin Pillar put his back against the wall again and got him another mound visit.

O’Hoppe crushed the next pitch, a curveball, sending it a Statcast-estimated 416 feet over the left-field wall for a three-run homer and a 7-6 Angels lead. Jo Adell followed with a homer to right on the next pitch, a sinker. The Astros and Valdez were in disbelief.

“I think he just kind of lost the game plan, lost it a little bit,” Espada said. “He started making some pitches where I thought he was going to go a different way against certain hitters and then he couldn’t get back on track.”

Valdez said he went against some of the pitches that were called by catcher Yainer Diaz.

“Sometimes certain pitches aren’t falling and you feel things aren’t going your way and you try to adjust the game plan,” Valdez said. “Things that happen. I had a bad game today and will try to learn from today and move forward.”

Diaz said it’s usually up to Valdez to throw the pitches he wants to throw, though he does shake him off on occasion.

“Depends on the situation of the game and things that are happening,” Diaz said. “At the end of the day, he knows how he feels and how his body feels. I can try to force him to throw a certain pitch, but he knows how he feels.”

Valdez relied mostly on his sinker (43 pitches), curveball (22 pitches) and changeup (19 pitches), which is a pretty typical pitch mix for him. He also threw a 99.1 mph fastball in the fifth inning to Kyren Paris that was the fastest pitch of his career (previous high was 98.4 mph on July 8, 2023).

Valdez, whose 68.3 percent ground-ball rate entering the game was the highest in the Major Leagues, couldn't keep the ball out of the air in the fifth.

“When you start seeing fly balls out of Framber’s performance, you know his stuff is starting to flatten out in the zone,” Espada said.

The Astros spotted Valdez a 4-1 lead by scoring four times in the second, capped by Jose Altuve’s three-run homer. Mauricio Dubón’s two-run homer in the fourth made it 6-1, but the Astros didn’t manage another hit until they rallied for a run in the ninth and had the winning run at the plate. Alex Bregman flied out to end the game and strand both runners.

“We hit some balls hard there in the ninth inning and made it a ballgame,” Espada said. “These guys don’t quit.”