HOUSTON -- It was only two weeks ago that left-hander Framber Valdez threw an 83-pitch complete game against the Rays, tying the club record for the fewest pitches by an Astros pitcher in a complete game since pitch-count tracking began in 1988. His path to victory Thursday night at Daikin Park had a few more twists and turns -- and was much shorter.
The pesky White Sox laid off some of Valdez’s best executed pitches and fouled even more than that, driving up the left-hander’s pitch count. It began with a 26-pitch first inning and ended with Valdez needing 95 pitches to get through five. He struck out a season-high 12 batters in the Astros’ 4-3 win.
“I thought their approach was staying in the at-bats, hitting the ball the other way,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “They fouled a ton of pitches off. They’re tough, they’re pesky. They’re not going to go without a fight and we fought back and won the series.”
The win pushed Houston’s lead in the American League West to a season-best 4 1/2 games over the Mariners and Angels, but the news was not all good for the Astros.
Two innings after third baseman Isaac Paredes put the Astros ahead, 4-1, in the fifth with his 15th homer of the season, he was forced to leave the game with a left hamstring injury he suffered while running toward first base on a double-play grounder. Espada said Paredes told him he wanted to play Friday, but he will be examined further Friday morning.
“He’s a pro at-bat,” Espada said. “That was a big homer there. That was the winning run. Definitely, he’s just been a force on our team.”
Valdez (7-4) set a franchise record for the most strikeouts in a start of five innings or fewer. The White Sox fouled off 23 pitches and whiffed 20 times, including 12 on his curveball. He became the fifth Astros left-hander to win 75 games, joining Bob Knepper, Wandy Rodriguez, Mike Hampton and Dallas Keuchel.
“I thought today they really made a point of trying to fight and foul pitches off and they had a lot of things going that made it a long night for Framber,” Espada said. “They made him work extra. He was able to give us five innings and our bullpen again comes in and does a remarkable job.”
Valdez’s bread and butter is relying on his curveball and sinker to get consistent weak contact on the ground. He entered Thursday ranked second in the American League with a 59.8 percent ground-ball percentage in 2025, but remarkably had only one ground-ball out against the White Sox.
“I’ve always said that every time I strike out more that means I throw more pitches,” Valdez said. “That’s why I try to pitch more to contact or try to get more groundouts and flyouts, and that way I last more. Unfortunately today there were some ground balls that were hit in places I didn’t want to. It was out of my control.”
The Astros scored three times in the third on back-to-back doubles by Jose Altuve and Yainer Diaz to take a 3-1 lead. Paredes’ solo homer in the fifth inning off White Sox starter Davis Martin pushed the lead to 4-1 and turned out to be a huge run.
Paredes, who was traded from the Cubs in December and took over for franchise icon Alex Bregman, is slashing .255/.353/.478 and leads the club in homers and RBIs (42) while starting 67 of 68 games at third base. That’s why the Astros will be hoping for good news in terms of his injury.
“Not only is he a great hitter, but he’s also a great fielder,” said Diaz, who had three hits. “I would say he’s been incredible.”
Chicago’s Mike Tauchman led off the ninth with a homer off closer Josh Hader, who stranded the tying run at second base to improve to 18-for-18 in save opportunities. The wins keep piling up for the Astros and now they can only hope the injuries don’t.