WASHINGTON NATIONALS NOTES:
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HOUSTON ASTROS NOTES:
TONIGHT’S GAME: The Astros will play the second game of their nine-game homestand tonight in the middle game of three against the visiting Washington Nationals…tonight’s starters, LHP Framber Valdez and RHP Josiah Gray, faced each other last season on May 13 at WSH, with Valdez (1ER/7.2IP) earning the victory over Gray (6ER/6IP) in the Astros 6-1 win…the Astros enter tonight 11-3 in their last 14 home games.
FRAMTASTIC: LHP Framber Valdez once again has been one of the top hurlers in all of baseball in 2023…among AL starters, he ranks tied for first in quality starts (10), fifth in ERA (2.36), seventh in innings (84) and seventh in strikeouts (89)…with 4.0 IP tonight, he would take over the AL lead in innings.
VS. THE NATIONALS: The Astros and Nationals will forever be connected with each other after a bizarre 2019 World Series matchup that featured road wins in all seven contests, with the Nationals topping the Astros in the finale…while most of the 2019 squads have turned over for both teams, the teams remain very familiar with each other due to sharing a Spring Training facility in West Palm Beach, FL…the two clubs matched up six times in Spring Training this season, splitting the contests at three games apiece.
GRINDERS: The Astros are within a streak of playing 26 games in 27 days (since May 26), and are 10-8 within this streak…on Sunday, the Astros completed a streak of playing games on 17 consecutive days, which is their longest streak of the season.
TONIGHT’S RING GIVEAWAY: Tonight, the Astros will give away a Dusty Baker World Series Replica Ring, presented by Reliant to all fans in attendance…Baker’s replica ring is the seventh of 13 scheduled replica ring giveaways this season.
TANKS ON TUESDAY: The Astros hit four home runs, all solo shots, in their 6-1 victory over the Nationals last night… while the homers led the offense, the story ended up being the milestones accomplished in the victory…1B José Abreu connected for his 1,500th career hit in the 7th, which scored 2B Jose Altuve, giving him 1,000 career runs scored…in the 8th, C Martín Maldonado hit his 100th career homer…on the mound, rookie RHP Hunter Brown tossed 7.0 scoreless innings en route to the win, his sixth of the season.
PITCHING IN: The Astros have the lowest team ERA (3.28) and have allowed the fewest runs (244) in the Majors…the Astros starters rank second in Majors in ERA (3.35), while their bullpen also check in at third in the Majors in ERA (3.17).
Lowest Team ERA – MLB Runs Allowed – MLB
- Houston: 3.28 1. Houston: 244
- Minnesota: 3.54 2. Minnesota: 253
- Tampa Bay: 3.56 3. Tampa Bay: 257
ROOKIE RESPECT: RHP Hunter Brown is making a strong bid for AL Rookie of the Year, as he ranks third among AL rookies in fWAR (1.8), trailing only 1B Ryan Noda (2.0) and OF Luke Raley (1.9)…this is common for Houston, as the club has produced a top five finisher in AL Rookie of the Year voting in four straight seasons: SS Jeremy Peña (5th in 2022), RHP Luis Garcia (2nd in 2021), RHP Cristian Javier (3rd in 2020) and LF Yordan Alvarez (1st in 2019).
ELIAS SAYS: 2B Jose Altuve scored his 1,000th career run last night on an RBI single in the 7th inning by 1B José Abreu…per Elias, other than Altuve scoring himself on 194 career homers, SS Carlos Correa (96 RBI), 3B Alex Bregman (68 RBI), 1B Yuli Gurriel (62 RBI) and DH Evan Gattis (47 RBI) are the all-time leaders in scoring Altuve in his illustrious career.
MR. 1,500: Last night, 1B José Abreu became the 21st active player in the Majors to reach the 1,500-hit plateau and the first player who debuted in 2014-or-later to do so…Abreu is now the 12th Cuban-born player to reach 1,500 hits and is the second Cuban-born player to reach the mark who debuted in 2000-or-later, joining IF Yunel Escobar, who hit the milestone in 2017….speaking of 15s, Abreu is hitting .263 (15×57) over his last 15 games (since May 28), while posting three homers, 12 RBI and a .779 OPS.
ON THE LEADERBOARD: 3B Alex Bregman ranks third in the AL in walk/strikeout ratio (0.97), fourth in walks (36) and eighth in PA/SO (7.96)…the Astros are also without a huge piece of their lineup in OF Yordan Alvarez, who ranks second in the Majors with 55 RBI, while ranking second in the AL in OPS (.978), third in SLG (.589) and tied for third in homers (17).
SUPER SUB: 2B Mauricio Dubón, who entered the season as a bench player, has stepped into the starting lineup and has produced a .297 (63×212) average, which leads the club and ranks seventh in the AL…Dubón got his opportunity with the early-season injury to 2B Jose Altuve, and has made 43 starts at second base this season…Dubón also has four starts at shortstop and three starts in left field.
MCCULLERS UPDATE: RHP Lance McCullers Jr. underwent surgery on Tuesday evening on his right forearm to repair the flexor tendon and remove a bone spur…as a result of the procedure, McCullers will be out for the remainder of the 2023 season, but is expected to return to pitching during the 2024 season.
TONIGHT’S ASTROS STARTER: LHP FRAMBER VALDEZ
W-L ERA G GS IP H R ER BB SO
2023 6-5 2.36 13 13 84.0 69 27 22 20 89
CAREER: 47-28 3.23 111 89 598.1 504 243 215 229 586
vs. WSH W-L ERA G GS IP H R ER BB SO
2023: 1-0 1.17 1 1 7.2 7 1 1 2 6
CAREER: 1-0 1.17 1 1 7.2 7 1 1 2 6
LAST START – 6/8 AT TOR: allowed 3 runs on 4 hits with 4 walks and 5 strikeouts in 5.0 innings…snapped his season-high 4-game winning streak…also snapped a 3-game quality start streak (5/21-6/2) in which he went 3-0 with a 0.41 ERA (1ER/22IP)…was the lowest ERA over a 3-start stretch in his career, with the next closest being a 1.06 ERA from 10/5/22-4/4/23…was the lowest ERA from an Astros pitcher over a 3-start stretch (min. 20 IP) since RHP Justin Verlander posted a 0.41 ERA in from Sept. 12-22 in 2017.
COMPLETE GAME: on May 21 vs. OAK, Valdez delivered the 2nd complete-game shutout of his career, striking out 7 batters while allowing 4 hits and no walks through 9 scoreless innings…was the 1st complete-game shutout from an Astros pitcher since Valdez’s 1st career complete-game shutout on Sept. 12, 2022 at DET…was the 5th complete-game shutout from an Astros pitcher since 2017 with Valdez and Justin Verlander tossing 2 of them (May 16, 2018 at LAA, Sept. 1, 2019 at TOR), and Gerritt Cole contributing the other on May 4, 2018…were the fewest hits allowed in Astros complete-game shutout since Verlander’s no-hitter on Sept 1, 2019 at TOR…the last Astros pitcher to throw a complete-game shutout without issuing a walk was Dallas Keuchel on May 30, 2015 vs. CWS…is 1 of 4 AL pitchers to throw a complete-game shutout this season.
LEAGUE LEADERBOARD: in AL, he ranks 4th in pitching WAR (2.5), 5th in ERA (2.36), 7th in innings (84.0), 7th in strikeouts (89)…is T-1st in AL with 10 quality starts.
REVERSE, REVERSE: has posted reverse splits to open his ‘23 campaign, holding right-handed hitters to a .213 batting average (57×268) while lefties are batting .308 (12×39)…traditionally, has been extremely tough on left-handed hitters, holding them to a .213 average (90×422) and a .623 OPS throughout his career, allowing just seven homers.
VS. WSH: will be making his 2nd career start against the Nationals and his 1st against them at Minute Maid Park…had a dominant start against the Nationals on 5/13/22, allowing 1 run through 7.2 IP and striking out 6 batters in a 6-1 Astros victory.
STAYING GROUNDED: among AL starters this year, ranks 1st in groundball percentage (59.8)
- owns a career 65.7% groundball percentage, which ranks as the lowest percentage in the Majors since 2018 (min. 300 IP)…SF RHP Logan Webb is the next-closest over that span at 57.3 %… since ground ball percentage started being tracked in 1987, Valdez career ground ball percentage is the highest ever posted by a starting pitcher (min. 300 IP).
