Houston Astros Ace Named AL Player of the Week

Last Tuesday, Framber Valdez threw the 321st no-hitter in Major League Baseball history in a 2-0 victory over the Cleveland Guardians.

He faced the minimum number of batters after he walked Oscar Gonzalez to start the fifth inning, but got a double play the very next at-bat.

The ace finished the game with seven strikeouts and closed it out throwing only 93 pitches. It's the third fewest pitchers recorded in a no-hitter since 1988.

Valdez also made history becoming the first left handed pitcher for the Houston Astros to toss a no-hitter.

This feat earned him the American League Player of the Week award for the first time in his career. He joins Chas McCormick as the second Astros player to receive the honor this season.

After the game last Tuesday, Valdez said, "I just went out there and tried to do the best that I could. Just tried to go out there being very positive. When I got to the seventh inning, I thought to myself, 'OK, I think I can finish this game without any hits.'"

It's a good sign for Houston because in his previous starts, their ace was not living up to his standard.

In his last three starts, he gave up six earned runs to the Texas Rangers, four to the Oakland Athletics and five to the Los Angeles Angels.

"Obviously, I had a couple rough starts before this one," Valdez said after his performance. "For me the biggest thing was just to continue working hard, continuing my focus, and knowing that I was going to be able to get back to where I was before."

Valdez and the Astros are hoping that is the moment that gets him back to the top level pitcher he has been for multiple seasons.