Astros on Valdez's complete game no-hitter: 'Framber's world and we're just living in it'

The Houston Astros picked up their 2-0 series-clinching home win over the Cleveland Guardians on Aug. 1, with the victory made all the more significant by left-handed starter Framber Valdez’s career-first no-hitter.

“It's Framber's world and we're just living in it,” the incumbent World Series champions said in a postgame post on X, the social media platform formally known as Twitter.

Per a report on the Astros’ website, the 29-year-old Dominican hurler earned the distinction of being the first southpaw in the franchise’s history to register a no-hitter, bringing the total team total to 16. In what could be deemed a coincidence, Valdez’s complete game no-no is the first for Houston since Justin Verlander’s in the 2019 season. Prior to the game, the Astros beat Major League Baseball’s (MLB) trade deadline by making a swap with the New York Mets for the 40-year-old Verlander, who enjoyed a comeback season in 2022 after not seeing the mound for approximately two years because of injury.

According to Bleacher Report (BR), Valdez accounted for the third no-hitter of the 2023 season. En route to the milestone, he surrendered a walk and retried seven Cleveland hitters, BR reported. Valdez stayed on the bump throughout the game, finishing a memorable night with a pitch count of 93.

The feat follows a pair of combined no-hitters attributed to the Astros during their 2022 championship season. Per a Nov. 3, 2022 Houston Daily article, starter Cristian Javier, relievers Bryan Abreu and Rafael Montero and closer Ryan Pressly froze the Philadelphia Phillies’ bats in Game 4 of last year’s Fall Classic to set up the three-game winning streak that led to the ultimate prize. It was the first combined no-hitter and second no-no in World Series history, the publication reported. Earlier in the summer of that year, Javier, Pressly and reliever Hector Neris strung together a combined no-no against the New York Yankees. As of press time, the Astros were looking to sweep the Guardians before flying out to New York City for an American League Championship Series (ALCS) rematch with the Yankees.