Framber Valdez Shines, Astros Blank Dodgers 5-0

For as much as I tend to fixate on Framber Valdez’s meltdowns, I feel there are times when I don’t appreciate the consistency he provides. By consistency, I mean his availability and generally above-average results. He may never fully replicate that excellent 2021-22 peak, but the overall results are hard to ignore. The Astros are better when Valdez takes the ball every fifth day, even with the occasional bad game thrown in the mix, although any team will have to live with wondering when the “good” or “bad” version of Valdez will show up.

But against the Dodgers on Friday evening, there was little doubt that “good” Valdez was on display. He was picking up whiffs — 17 on the day — when he needed them. Ten strikeouts in only 6 ¹⁄₃ innings. No runs on four hits and two walks. The biggest threat of the game for Valdez occurred in the sixth inning by loading the bases with one out before escaping the jam. It was a situation in which one could easily envision the lefty imploding, but he thankfully didn’t this time around. While he would leave the game in the seventh with two runners on base with only one out, it was still an overall good performance against one of the best teams in baseball.

The Astros did their scoring early in this one, establishing a quick 2-0 lead by the end of the third inning, thanks to Joey Loperfido’s RBI single in the second and Alex Bregman’s solo home run in the third to set the tone early. But it was Jon Singleton’s massive two-run shot in the fourth inning that put the game firmly in the Astros’ favor.

And that bat flip was simply majestic.

Ultimately, Houston would do little else at the plate by squandering a couple more chances to convert with runners on base, but the early offense was enough. Bryan Abreu bailed Valdez out of the jam in the seventh, thanks in part to a successful challenge that kept Los Angeles from scoring. Ryan Pressly looks increasingly like his old self again, throwing a scoreless eighth inning against the top half of the Dodgers’ lineup. With a 4-0 lead and the bottom half of the lineup due up, Joe Espada turned to Tayler Scott for the ninth. He then responded by striking out the side on 17 pitches.

With the win, the Astros maintain a one-game lead over the Mariners, who won their game against the White Sox, for first place in the AL West. The Rangers, however, saw their deficit increase back to 3.5 games due to their walk-off loss to the Blue Jays. Houston hosts Los Angeles for two more games this weekend.