Framber Valdez and Astros deny Angels bid for 4th straight win – Orange County Register

Alex Bregman of the Houston Astros comes home to score behind Angels catcher Logan O’Hoppe on a three-run double by Yordan Alvarez in the seventh inning Friday night at Angel Stadium. The Astros won 7-1. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

ANAHEIM — The Angels couldn’t solve Houston Astros left-hander Framber Valdez this time around.

Valdez notched his seventh complete game in the last four seasons, limiting the Angels to one run and four hits in the Astros’ 7-1 victory in the first game of the three-game series Friday night at Angel Stadium.

Valdez (5-3) struck out eight and walked one on 106 pitches, causing 15 groundouts along the way.

“The way the game went, if we were to win this game, it would be close because Framber Valdez was Framber Valdez tonight,” Angels manager Ron Washingon said. “We faced one of the best pitchers in the game and tonight he played his best against us.”

The Angels lit up Valdez for eight runs in a 9-7 win at Houston on May 20, tying a career-worst for the left-hander.

On Friday, however, Valdez looked more like the two-time American League All Star who pitched a no-hitter against the Cleveland Guardians last August and was nearly unhittable in two of his three starts against the Angels last season.

Keven Pillar hit a solo home run to account for the only run for the Angels (24-39), who were trying to win their fourth straight game to match their best winning streak of the season.

Angels starter Griffin Canning (2-6) matched Valdez for six innings before Houston exploded for five runs in the seventh. Canning allowed three runs and seven hits, all singles, in 6⅓ innings, striking out two and walking two.

“I felt pretty good,” Canning said. “I really try to take it one pitch at a time and execute the throws.”

The Astros (29-35) knocked Canning out of the game with back-to-back one-out singles from Trey Cabbage and Jose Altuve in the seventh. Hunter Strickland came in and appeared to cause Alex Bregman to look at a called third strike, but instead walked.

“I thought it was down the middle, but what can you do about it,” Washington said of the missed third strike.

Yordan Alvarez then lined a two-strike pitch into the left-center field gap that fell just out of reach of a diving pitcher. The ball rolled against the wall, allowing all three runners to score for a 4-1 lead.

“That ball that Alvarez hit, I thought (Strickland) beat him on that ball, but the type of hitter he is, he split that gap perfectly,” Washington said.

Strickland got the second out on a hard line drive to left before Yainer Diaz homered for the fourth straight game to extend the lead to 6-1.

Strickland, who had allowed one run and four hits in his previous 10 appearances spanning 8⅓ innings, did not cite the missed hit as an excuse for his off night.

“They have an incredible lineup from top to bottom,” Strickland said. “I need to make a better pitch.”

Valdez needed only six pitches to get through the first and sixth innings

After Taylor Ward singled to center to start the fourth, Valdez retired nine straight before Pillar singled with one out in the seventh.

Jose Abreu added a solo shot in the eighth to make the lead 7-1.