© Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports
Astros Get Back on Track in Windy City Behind Valdez's 20th Straight Quality Start
The Houston Astros bounced back on Wednesday and avoided a third straight loss to the Chicago White Sox.
Framber Valdez set the tone early on and never let up. It was just another walk in the park for the right-hander, as he tallied his league-leading 21st quality start of the season.
This was Valdez's 20th quality start in a row, which makes him just the fifth pitcher to accomplish this feat since 2000. The Dominican Republic native joins the likes of Jacob deGrom, Jake Arrieta, Chris Carpenter, and Johan Santana.
Valdez has been a force on the mound all season, and his success carried over against the White Sox on Wednesday night. The starter went seven innings, allowing two runs on seven hits and punching out six.
Valdez worked ahead for the better part of the night, as he threw first-pitch strikes to 16 of the 28 batters he faced. His earned run average continues to drop (2.72), which is a beautiful thing to watch for the Astros as they inch closer to October.
On the offensive side, Houston took advantage when they had runners in scoring position. Every time the Astros got a runner on third, they found a way to push him across home plate.
The American League leaders got on the board in the top of the first after José Altuve led off with a walk and proceeded to steal second and third. Yordan Álvarez delivered a sacrifice fly to left field to score Altuve and give the Astros a 1-0 lead.
Houston Astros teammates José Altuve and Yordan Álvarez.
© Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports
In the top half of the fourth, Álvarez singled to right and advanced to third on a double to deep center from Kyle Tucker. Next up was the newly-acquired Trey Mancini, who answered the call with a sacrifice fly to score Álvarez.
Chas McMormick followed that with a double to right field, scoring Tucker and giving Houston a 3-0 lead.
Chicago closed in on that lead after scoring two runs in the bottom half of the frame, but that is all they could muster as the Astros bullpen came in and shut down the White Sox for the rest of the contest.
Ryne Stanek and Ryan Pressly each tossed one inning in relief as they combined to allow just one hit and strike out three. Pressly notched his 24th save of the season, which ranks eighth in baseball this season.
The Astros secured the win on Wednesday before closing out the series in Chicago on Thursday at 1:10 p.m. Luis Garcia will toe the rubber against righty Lucas Giolito.
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