Valdez wraps up-and-down first half with 10-K gem

HOUSTON -- Astros starter Framber Valdez struck out a season-high 10 batters to notch his 10th quality start in his final outing before the All-Star break, leading the Astros to a 9-1 win over the Marlins on Wednesday night at Minute Maid Park.

Houston is now 48-44 overall and remains two games back of American League West-leading Seattle after winning its eighth consecutive game at home, the Astros' longest home winning streak since June 19-July 5, 2022.

"I think [my confidence] increases obviously when you do things well and you get good results and things go well,” Valdez said through an interpreter. “[A performance like tonight’s] definitely increases your confidence and it just motivates me to do even better."

Valdez, who earned his second All-Star nod last season, has had an up-and-down 2024 campaign. While he has strung together the types of wins that led to last year’s All-Star selection, the lefty has also had some uncharacteristic losses.

Houston improved to 4-0 in Valdez’s last four starts, a span in which the club has allowed just 11 runs. In his June 18 loss to the White Sox, Valdez allowed just two runs (Houston scored none). Six days before that, he gave up eight hits and five earned runs in four frames in a 5-3 loss to San Francisco.

Through these ups and downs, Valdez has emerged 8-5 on the season with a 3.66 ERA in 16 starts.

"When he gets behind in the count, that’s when you start wondering how long he’s going to be in the game,” manager Joe Espada said. "But when he’s getting outs, it’s quick, [and] you see seven strong innings like we saw tonight."

The lows of Valdez’s up-and-down 2024 season are reminiscent of his second-half skid last year. After the 2023 All-Star break, Valdez went 5-5 with a 4.66 ERA and was 0-3 with a 9.00 ERA in three postseason starts. Prior to the break, he was 7-6 with a 2.51 ERA.

Getting a consistent Valdez in the second half of the season will be crucial to the Astros' hopes of making another postseason run. Houston is still without Justin Verlander, who doesn’t have a clear timeline for a return. Lance McCullers Jr.’s rehab is in limbo after he reported not feeling well after recent throwing sessions. The Astros have also lost starting pitchers J.P. France, Cristian Javier and José Urquidy for the year.

Espada credited much of Valdez’s success on Wednesday to the execution of his curveball, which he threw 37 times out of 95 total pitches (39%). The Marlins whiffed 10 out of their 21 swings (48%) at the pitch.

Marlins manager Skip Schumaker also noted the effectiveness of Valdez’s curveball on limiting his team’s ability to score:

"He's been good for a long time,” Schumaker said. "It's 96, 98 at the top of the zone with a good sinker as well to complement it. The curveball was the toughest one for us, I thought. He was throwing it for strikes early and expanding late. The changeup was obviously really good. They played good defense behind him. But just a lot of soft contact when we did put it in play. A couple good at-bats here and there, but Framber was really, really good tonight."

On the offensive side, rookie Joey Loperfido launched a 394-foot homer in the second inning for the second home run of his young career. Loperfido also added a triple in the fourth inning, becoming the first Astros rookie since Jose Siri in 2022 to hit a homer and a triple in the same game.

"I think knowing when to be aggressive situationally in the game [and] when you can kind of take your shots like that is something that I’ve gotten better at,” Loperfido said.

The Astros banged out 13 hits, led by catcher Yainer Diaz (3-for-4), who’s batting .347 (41-for-118) since June 3, with 25 RBIs in 29 games.

Yordan Alvarez exited Wednesday’s game with right hip tightness after two appearances at the plate, replaced by pinch-hitter Trey Cabbage in the fourth inning. Despite Alvarez’s early exit, Espada said that the injury does not appear to be very serious and that the Astros' All-Star slugger did not get any imaging done.

"Hopefully, it’s nothing that will linger for a long time,” Espada said.