Houston Astros' Valdez Ties Single-Season Quality Start Streak in Shutout

Framber Valdez secured his 24th-straight quality start Monday as the Houston Astros caged the Detroit Tigers.

While he won't run away with the American League Cy Young Award, Framber Valdez has surely pieced together one of the best seasons in the history of baseball. On Monday, the Houston Astros starting pitcher notched his 24th consecutive quality start, tying Jacob deGrom's Major League record from 2018.

Valdez stretched to 107 pitches Monday against the Detroit Tigers, tossing a complete-game shutout — the first of his career — in the season opener. The lefty yielded just six hits and one walk to his eight strikeouts. 

His 25th quality start of the season leads Major League Baseball while he inches closer to the 26-consecutive mark deGrom set between the 2018-2019 seasons. Showing the most consistency in the American League, Valdez is also the leader in innings pitched with 178.2.

Jeremy Peña powered the offense Monday with a three-hit night. The shortstop got the offense started in the first inning with an RBI-single up the middle to score José Altuve.

Alex Bregman plated Peña two batters later for an early two-run lead. Later, Kyle Tucker brought home the next two runs, both on ground outs in the third and fifth innings.

Peña was caught in a rundown in the fifth inning but ultimately dragged out the play to put Yordan Álvarez and Bregman into scoring position before he was tagged out. The Astros found two of their seven runs after the play.

Gurriel drove in the other run in the fifth inning with his 36th double of the season, and Tucker added two more on a single with the bases loaded in the ninth inning. 

Houston is 30-5 in games when Peña hits second in the lineup — where he’s been slated in 11 of the Astros' last 13 games. Prior to Monday, the righty was slashing a .795 OPS out of the two hole with six doubles, eight homers and 15 RBI.

The Astros return to action at 5:40 p.m. Tuesday with Hunter Brown facing his hometown team. The Tigers have scheduled right-hander Drew Hutchinson to counter him.

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