HOUSTON -- While right-hander Hunter Brown has emerged as the ace of the Astros staff, as well as one of the best power pitchers in baseball, left-hander Framber Valdez served as a reminder of his importance to Houston’s banged-up starting rotation.
As the Astros approach the end of a challenging stretch of 17 consecutive games without a day off -- during which they lost starting pitcher Hayden Wesneski to Tommy John surgery and fellow starter Ronel Blanco to elbow inflammation -- Valdez delivered his fourth consecutive quality start in a tense 2-1 win over the first-place Mariners on Saturday afternoon at Daikin Park.
Valdez held the Mariners to one run and four hits in six innings, picking up his third win in four starts. He assisted a Houston bullpen that had logged 19 2/3 innings in five games since the lefty’s previous start.
“I think he did a really good job,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “That team controls the zone, they make you work. I told Framber he did a nice job coming back into some counts, getting some big outs. Eleven total punchouts for our guys today and we got the swing and misses when we needed to. Our bullpen, again, outstanding job.”
Valdez (4-4) overcame command issues -- he threw 55 of 101 pitches for strikes and walked four batters -- but only allowed one runner past second base. That came when Seattle’s Randy Arozarena tripled into the left-center-field gap to lead off the second and scored on a Mitch Garver groundout.
"I thought his breaking ball was pretty sharp today, and he kept the ball down,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “And again, we talked about it beforehand, but it's tough to get him up in the air. He was able to get ahead and keep the ball down and just didn't give us a lot of opportunities."
Unlike Friday, when Seattle scored three times in the seventh against the Houston bullpen, including a two-run homer by Cal Raleigh off Bryan Abreu, Astros relievers shut the door Saturday. Bennett Sousa, Abreu and Josh Hader combined to throw three scoreless innings, allowing one hit with six strikeouts. Hader has 13 saves in 13 chances.
“I was only able to go six, but I feel like I was still able to help the closer, the setup man and the rest of the bullpen,” Valdez said.
Especially helpful considering the Astros are sending rookie Colton Gordon to the mound in Sunday’s series finale. Gordon went 4 1/3 innings in his first career start May 14 against the Royals and 5 1/3 innings in his second start Monday at Tampa Bay, so the bullpen could have to carry a bigger burden Sunday.
Valdez hoped to squeeze one more inning out of his start, but the Mariners made him work hard for his six innings. Seattle drew five walks in the game, which gives the Mariners 205 for the season. That’s the second-most in the Major Leagues (Yankees, 208).
“They were very selective with my pitches,” he said. “That’s why I got a little tired and threw all those pitches by the sixth inning, but I also focused and attacked the hitters in the zone.”
The Astros’ offense didn’t do much against Mariners starter Bryan Woo, who didn’t allow an earned run in six innings. All 11 hits the Astros had were singles, they were 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and they hit into three double plays. It was the first time the Astros had at least 11 singles and no extra-base hits in a game since Sept. 26, 2006, at Pittsburgh.
Both runs the Astros scored in the first inning came on errors on consecutive pitches -- a throwing error by Woo that allowed Jose Altuve to score from first and a fielding error by second baseman Leo Rivas on a hard-hit ball by Victor Caratini that allowed Christian Walker to score.
“We took advantage of those and scored a couple of runs,” Espada said. “It’s a team that doesn't give you that many opportunities, and when they do, you’ve got to capitalize and take advantage of it. I thought we did a nice job.”