Valdez still eager to improve after fifth straight quality start

HOUSTON -- Every game can be a learning experience, a chance to grow. Even for Astros left-hander Framber Valdez, one of the game’s best southpaws who had just delivered his fifth consecutive quality start and 31st since the start of last season.

Valdez, in the moments after throwing a season-high 109 pitches in seven innings and being outdueled by Phillies ace Aaron Nola, took time Friday night to talk with his batterymate, Martín Maldonado, and reliever Hector Neris to dissect a 3-1 loss in a World Series rematch at Minute Maid Park.

Simply put, Valdez said it was a meeting about pitch execution.

“We were talking about the game, maybe some of the adjustments we could have done in-game,” said Valdez, who gave up three runs on eight hits. “Some of the pitches I was throwing weren’t falling where I wanted them. My changeup, my cutter were staying up and some pitches were staying down.”

Valdez’s pitch mix -- 55% sinkers, 27% curveballs, 13% cutters and 5% changeups -- didn’t vary much from his usual arsenal use. Yet, he wasn’t getting the swings and misses he usually garnered. Kyle Schwarber tagged him for a first-inning homer on a cutter. Then, the ninth spot in the order came away with RBI hits in the fifth (a Cristian Pache double on a curve), and sixth (a Brandon Marsh single on a sinker).

It wouldn’t be fair to pin this loss on Valdez (2-3), who has thrown seven innings a Major League-high four times this season. The Astros have scored two or fewer runs with Valdez on the mound in four of his six starts. The only offense the Astros managed Friday was a Jeremy Peña homer in the first inning, as the Houston shortstop -- and last year's World Series Most Valuable Player -- continued to rake against the Phillies.

Valdez was facing the Phillies for the first time since he pitched the Astros to a win in Game 6 of the World Series to clinch the title. The lefty also beat Philadelphia in Game 2 of last year’s Fall Classic and was 3-0 with a 1.04 ERA in three starts against them -- all of which came last October and November.

“I came out of the game with the loss there and I think I just did what I tried to do every single start, just go out there and try to pitch as deep as I can until I can -- the seventh, eighth innings,” Valdez said. “I couldn't win the game today, but I try to control the things I can control on the mound with the hitters. We didn’t get the result we wanted, but it’s still early in the season and not something to be worried about with us.”

Peña’s homer rekindled some thoughts of last fall’s heroics, in which he hit .400 with two doubles and a homer. Third baseman Alex Bregman made a bid for another first-inning homer off Nola two batters later, but right fielder Nick Castellanos made a tremendous leaping grab to rob Bregman. The Astros managed a season-low three hits.

“Framber was good,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said. “They got some big hits off of him with runners in scoring position, especially the [one]-out double early in the game that gave them a 2-1 lead. One of the plays of the game was the play Castellanos made. It would have been [2-1 Astros] at that time.

“We didn’t get any more. We threatened in that one inning [fifth] when we had first and second and nobody out, but Nola was good tonight. He was good against us before. We didn’t muster too much offense because he was dealing on the other side.”