ANAHEIM — An ace accepts the challenge that Framber Valdez set against Angels star pitcher Shohei Ohtani on Tuesday. The Astros had a revised bullpen, a struggling offense, were on a three-game losing streak and needed Valdez at his best.
Valdez’s best start to the season to date was the culmination of one of the best all-around wins for the Astros, who watched their top left-hander batter the top 12 batter in eight innings with one-run ball and lead his team to a result 3-1 win over the Angels on Tuesday night at Angel Stadium.
“I was just trying to do the same thing I’ve always done – attack the batsmen and throw every pitch with intensity,” Valdez said.
Martín Maldonado, who was behind the Angels’ plate when Ohtani made his major league debut as a pitcher on April 1, 2018, hit a two-run home run in the fifth round before Ohtani, and Yordan Alvarez hit an RBI later in the inning -Added a single to give Houston a 3-1 lead.
“Every time you contributed offensively, especially after we lost three straight games, I felt like it was a game you had to win against a strong pitcher,” Maldonado said. “We had a good game plan. I wasn’t trying to do too much.”
Valdez passed Ohtani, who batted seven in seven innings and gave up three runs. The left-hander set all-time highs for innings and strikeouts thrown during the Astros season, falling one strikeout short of a career-high 13. Valdez managed 18 swings and misses, never let a batter run, and threw 75 of his 99 pitches to strikes.
“His breaking ball was excellent, he was really good with his fastball, he was very efficient with the pitch count and he was masterful,” said Astros manager Dusty Baker. “Taking them out has helped his cause and ours. We really needed this game. Seattle beat Texas, we got back to .500 and beat Anaheim. So it was a good day for us and a good day for Framber.”
Valdez relied primarily on three throws — his cutter (32 of 99 throws), the two-seam fastball (32), and the curveball (26). He continued to increase his fastball speed — throwing 1.3 mph harder this year than last year’s average of 95.2 mph — averaging 96 mph and hitting a top speed of 98 mph Hour.
“I think I threw 98 when I got back to Atlanta [on April 22]And that’s because of all the hard work that I’ve put in — my work in the gym, all of my running, all of my conditioning and, I think, all of the personal work that I’ve done in the clubhouse,” Valdez said. “I am only attacking the strike [zone] also helps to get there.”
The only runner to reach third base for the Angels was Zach Neto, who hit his first career home run in the third inning. Ryan Pressly scored a 1-2-3 in the ninth inning, knocking out Ohtani, Anthony Rendon and Hunter Renfroe to end the game.
“He’s good; there’s no other way to put it,” Angels manager Phil Nevin said of Valdez. “There weren’t too many pitches to hit. I thought we managed to make good swings, although we actually did have one “We had a pitch that we could hit, but that was just here and there. It was one of his better games I’ve ever thrown and I’ve seen him throw some good ones.”
Ohtani was great outside of the fifth inning as the five straight Astros reached base after an out and was crowned by Alvarez’s RBI single.
“We found some gaps and he didn’t slam as many as he usually does against us, which helped our cause,” Baker said. “We were aggressive on the bases because you can’t wait to get two or three hits in a row from him. We played a good game. Everything went well.”