Bats awaken to support Valdez
With a doubleheader necessitated by the approach of Tropical Storm Laura looming on Tuesday, circumstances could hardly have worked out better for the Astros and worse for the Angels in an 11-4 Houston win Monday night at Minute Maid Park.
Lefthander Framber Valdez struck out 11 in seven innings for the Astros — all of them on third-strike curveballs — and the Houston offense dispatched Angels starter Patrick Sandoval in
the third inning. Six Angels relievers followed to limited effect.
The game, however, remained in doubt until a four-run Astros sixth inning keynoted by Carlos Correa’s bases-clearing triple and an RBI double by Kyle Tucker, who had a second-inning homer and has delivered eight extra base hits in his last nine games.
Valdez allowed a solo homer by Justin Upton and an RBI base hit by Albert Pujols, a rite of passage for Astros pitchers, but walked only two while delivering 113 pitches, 75 for strikes. He had 33 called strikes and 10 swings and misses, nine on the curveball, while allowing six hits.
“Eleven (strikeouts) is my record in the big leagues, and I feel good about that,” Valdez said through an interpreter. “I feel good about the job that my team did and the job I did with (catcher Martin) Maldonado and everybody. It was a good night.”
Valdez had a strikeout in every inning except the third and fanned Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout to end the seventh. His ability to make it through seven, said manager Dusty Baker, was significant with the doubleheader coming up.
“He’s a strong guy, physically strong, and he’s getting mentally strong,” Baker said. “We figured
if he could get to the sixth inning, he would be even better at the end.
“We asked how he felt, and he said, ‘I feel great.’ His breaking ball was sharper, and when a sinker ball pitcher gets tired, his ball has more action and life on it, and sinks more. That was big also.”
Meanwhile, after struggling at the plate in a three-game sweep at San Diego, the Astros had 11 hits, including six doubles by Correa, Tucker, Myles Straw, Yuli Gurriel and two by Michael Brantley. Tucker, Brantley, Maldonado and Josh Reddick each had two hits.
However, outfielder George Springer left the game after being hit by a pitch during the four-run sixth inning. He suffered what was describe as a left elbow contusion, but X-rays were negative for more serious damage.
Baker said Springer likely will sit out both games of Tuesday’s doubleheader but added, “Nothing is broken, and he’s a pretty quick healer.”
Cionel Perez pitched the eighth and ninth for the Astros, who will bring a relatively rested bullpen into Tuesday’s doubleheader. Cristian Javier will face Angels lefthander Jose Suarez in the first of two scheduled seveninning games. Neither team had named a starter for the second game Monday night, but Baker said that newly acquired Chase
De Jong was a possibility.
Tucker began the onslaught with a 404-foot solo homer in the second, and the Astros added another run in the second and three in the third against Sandoval (0-4), the former Astros draft choice who has yet to record a win in 14 career starts.
The lefthander surrendered seven hits and two walks in 22⁄3 innings with five runs, all earned.
The Astros posted crooked numbers in the second, third, sixth and seventh against the Angels, who at 9-21 have their worst record in franchise record through 30 games.
After Tucker’s home run in the second, Gurriel doubled into the gap in right field and scored on Reddick’s opposite-field base hit.
In the third, Jose Altuve walked to lead off the inning and took second on a fielder’s choice. Tucker walked and Gurriel grounded to the left side. Second baseman David Fletcher went to second to get Tucker, but Andrelton Simmons’ return throw went into the dugout, and Altuve scored.
Brantley followed with a double to score Gurriel and, after taking third on a wild pitch, scored on a Reddick base hit.
In the sixth, Reddick and Maldonado worked walks from Keynan Middleton and Jacob Barnes, respectively. Jack Mayfield sacrificed both runners 90 feet, and Springer took one off the elbow
to load the bases.
Altuve struck out, but Correa worked the count to 3-2 before lining a slider to left to clear the bases. He scored on Tucker’s double.
Tucker, who had two walks with his two hits, continued his recent hot streak at the plate.
“It goes back to me seeing the ball better,” Tucker said. “I’m not chasing pitches now, which is good. As long as I don’t chase and put good swings on the ball, that will be good. I’m trying to keep the routine going and keep doing what I’m doing.”
Straw’s double in the seventh scored Brantley, who led off a double, and Maldonado, who walked.
Astros defensive bloopers contributed to an Angels run in the third. Simmons walked and was sacrificed to second by Anthony Bemboom. Simmons stole third and scored when Fletcher grounded to the right side but Valdez failed to cover first and Fletcher beat Gurriel to the bag.
The Angels added a run in the fourth on Upton’s opposite-field solo home run and two in the fifth. Fletcher again got things started with a one-out base hit. He took second on an Ohtani groundout, Valdez walked Trout and Anthony Rendon singled Fletcher home.
Trout, who took third on the Rendon base hit, scored on a base hit by Pujols, who moved into sole possession of third place on the career RBI list at 2,087, including 172 against the Astros.