Today was a big day for the Houston Astros.
It began with reacquiring three-time Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander from the New York Mets at the trade deadline for two outfield prospects. It was only last December that Verlander signed a 2-year, $86.7 million deal with the Mets after earning his second World Series ring with the Astros in six years. In 16 starts with the Mets this season, the 40-year old Verlander went 6-5 with a 3.15 ERA. His most recent win was his 250th big league victory on Sunday against the Washington Nationals.
Despite reaching that milestone, the Mets have been MLB's most spectacular disappointment despite having future Hall of Famers Verlander and Max Scherzer at the top of the rotation. The Mets are currently 18 games back of the Atlanta Braves in the NL East. With the Mets having sent Scherzer to the Texas Rangers over the weekend, the two will go from being teammates to AL West rivals with the Rangers leading the Astros by a mere half game.
Needless to say, this news must have psyched up the Astros because Framber Valdez just went out and no-hit the Cleveland Guardians tonight. The Astros threw two combined no-hitters in 2022 including one in the World Series with Cristian Javier starting both games. However, tonight Valdez became the first Astros starter to pitch a complete game no-no since, well, Justin Verlander tossed his third career no-hitter in September 2019.
Valdez's no-hitter was the third of the 2023 season with New York Yankees hurler Domingo German throwing a perfect game against the Oakland A's on June 28th followed by a combined no-hitter by Detroit Tigers pitchers Matt Manning, Jason Foley and Alex Lange against the Toronto Blue Jays 10 days later.
In Valdez's previous start against the Texas Rangers, he gave up 6 runs on 8 hits in only 3.2 innings pitched en route to a 13-5 loss. Valdez definitely stepped up his game tonight. The question is if Verlander's return will ignite the Astros relaunch their rockets into the stratosphere.
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