Yainer Diaz walk-off caps Framber Valdez masterpiece
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Staff Reports, Staff reports
- May 31, 2025
Framber Valdez needed only 83 pitches in complete game
HOUSTON – Appropriately, Framber Valdez led the charge out of the home dugout to mob Yainer Diaz at home plate Friday night. The batterymates almost single-handedly dominated the Tampa Bay Rays. They began the night allowing a disappointing, leadoff home run, and then they capped a masterpiece with a walk-off home run.
“The fact that we went out there and Yainer hit that home run and we all got to celebrate and get Valdez that win, it’s great,” Astros manager Joe Espada said.
Valdez has already thrown a no-hitter in his career on 93 pitches. He’s also carried the Astros to a World Series title while winning two games in the 2022 Fall Classic. Yet, it’s not hyperbole to say that Valdez may have delivered the most dominant performance of his career with Diaz guiding him Friday night at Daikin Park.
Valdez needed only 83 pitches – never more than 11 in an inning – for the complete game, 2-1 victory. The veteran left-hander became the first Astro to throw a complete game with 83 or fewer pitches since the late Darryl Kile threw 83 pitches to beat the Mets on Sept. 8, 1993.
Valdez’s efficiency was so rare, you have to go back 34 years to find another time a left-hander threw a complete game without throwing a dozen pitches in any inning.
Matching Hall of Famer Tom Glavine
According to Opta Sports, Hall of Famer Tom Glavine was the last lefty to not need a dozen pitches in any inning while throwing a complete game. Glavine accomplished the feat for the Atlanta Braves on June 15, 1993.
Valdez fell behind 1-0 when Jose Caballero hit the second pitch of the game for a home run. Six pitches later, Valdez was done with the eight-pitch first inning.
“I attacked the zone,” Valdez said. “He had luck to hit that ball out. Then I simply just attacked and didn’t have any remorse” for the home run allowed.
Down 1-0 after two pitches, Valdez then secured the 27 outs with only 81 pitches.
“Once he gave up that homer he got really pissed off,” Espada said of Framber Valdez.
Framber Valdez ready for 10th
Valdez needed a game-high 11 pitches to get through the second inning. He threw nine pitches in each of the next three innings. Then Valdez retired the Rays with only seven pitches in the sixth inning. He threw eight pitches in the seventh and then 11 pitches in each of the final two innings.
The Astros tied the score at 1 in the eighth. Diaz then hit a walk-off home run to right in the ninth.
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“We’re a team that always tries to look out for our teammates,” Diaz said. “An outing like Framber’s, we couldn’t afford to lose that type of outing. We really wanted to win the game for him.”
Espada wouldn’t have let Valdez go out for a 10th inning, but Valdez was ready.
“Clearly yes, it was only 83 pitches,” Valdez said. “I’ve thrown five or six innings with 110 pitches. Why could I not go to the 10th with 83?”
Fortunately for the Astros, Diaz ended it in the ninth.
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