It took Astros’ starter Framber Valdez 29 pitches to record an out against the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday at Comerica Park.
By then, the Tigers led by five runs, and they never gave up the lead in an eventual 7-2 victory that secured a series sweep vs. Houston. Valdez’s final stat line was horrific—seven earned runs, seven hits and four walks over five innings pitched.
After a strong start to the season, Valdez has fallen off a cliff over four starts in August. So what’s going on?
Valdez’s no-good, very bad month
The Astros won 13 consecutive games when Valdez took the mound from May 7-July 22, during which he went 10-0 with a 1.86 ERA over 87.0 innings. That streak snapped on July 28, when Houston lost 2-1 to the Nationals despite a quality start from Valdez.
But as soon as the calendar turned to August, the Astros’ ace drastically declined. Over four starts this month, Valdez has a 7.33 ERA, and his ERA this season has inflated from 2.83 to 3.32 during that stretch.
He allowed four hits, two walks and threw two wild pitches in the opening frame on Wednesday, as the Tigers jumped out to a 6-0 lead.
“When there’s a lot of balls in play, that’s when he usually [unravels],” Houston manager Joe Espada said, per MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart.
But third baseman Carlos Correa, who returned to his former team at the trade deadline, has seen Valdez at his best over the years. He has confidence that the eight-year Major League veteran will turn it around.
“He’s a great pitcher, he’s going to adjust,” Correa said. “You saw the little adjustment he made later in the game with his slider and throwing something moving into [hitters] so they were not diving as much. He knows what he needs to do to be the Framber that we know.”
Houston begins a four-game series in Baltimore tonight at 7:15 ET.
