HOUSTON — Their pitching style and paychecks are polar opposites, part of the contrasting paths they’ve taken toward the pinnacle. Justin Verlander arrived in the major leagues and never left. Framber Valdez needed a couple of minor-league demotions, a stint as the last man in a loaded big-league bullpen and a meeting with a sports psychologist to mend his mind and preserve his career before his breakout 2020 season.
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All aces aren’t created equal. Few stories in baseball are as straightforward as Verlander’s, from second overall pick to surefire Hall of Famer. He cemented his Cooperstown credentials across three full seasons and small parts of two more atop the Astros’ rotation, authoring a legacy few who follow him can realistically approach.
Allowing Verlander to walk this winter afforded Valdez a chance to ascend from forgotten $10,000 signee into full-blown ace. Anyone watching him the last two seasons realized he is already there. No announcement needed to be made. No torch needed to be passed.
Valdez took it Tuesday anyway. He outdueled Verlander during a 4-2 win against the Mets, seizing the spotlight from Verlander while reprising the role the Mets righty filled for most of his time in Houston. Losing streaks were rare then, but when they arrived, teammates and coaches called Verlander their stopper. His presence alone cultivated confidence, curing whatever ailed the club during the days before.
“Verlander for five years was incredible for us. Whenever we needed a ‘dub’ he was there,” third baseman Alex Bregman said. “And (now) Framber’s been that guy for us. He’s been incredible.”
Valdez stopped the Astros’ five-game losing streak with eight excellent innings. He struck out nine and surrendered two earned runs, keeping his ERA at 2.27 after 99 innings. Among all major-league starters, only Shane McClanahan has a lower ERA. Only Gerrit Cole and Nathan Eovaldi have thrown more innings.
Valdez retired the first 16 Mets he saw, manhandling them with a menacing cutter and a sinker that touched 97.7 mph. The Mets managed one ball out of the infield during their first time through the batting order. The Mets saw 12 or fewer pitches in each of the first six innings, with Valdez remaining perfect until that sixth frame.
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“It’s really difficult to recognize spin off of him,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said. “That’s why you see some good hitters swinging at pitches where your first thought is, ‘Why are they swinging at that pitch?’ But the spin is so tight on it. It’s a lot of late recognition on the pitch. You don’t have that much time. That’s something people miss about him — how late the recognition of the spin is on his two breaking balls.”
Valdez generated 26 swings against his two breaking pitches — 16 on the curveball and 10 more against his cutter. Seventeen of them were whiffs. Six of Valdez’s eight strikeouts concluded on the cutter, his newest pitch and now possibly one of his best.
“He lets the sinker kind of go up and in and the slider go down and away,” Mets second baseman Jeff McNeil said. “As a hitter, that’s tough; you see it down the middle and you have to choose one or the other. It’s tough. He pitched well.”
Valdez is no stranger to showdowns. He opposed Shohei Ohtani in Angel Stadium on Opening Day last season and American League Cy Young runner-up Dylan Cease during this year’s opener. He won Game 6 of the World Series last season, too, securing the franchise’s second championship.
A game in mid-June does not carry those stakes. Still, catcher Martín Maldonado said Valdez appeared more “amped” to face Verlander, a man to whom he had played second fiddle when the game started.
“Till I Collapse” blared before the bottom of the first inning, a final sign of respect during Verlander’s three-day Houston homecoming. He warmed up with the song before all 65 of his starts inside this ballpark, bringing a dose of Detroit to his new home and an unexpected anthem every fifth day of his fabulous tenure.
Time away did not change anything about Verlander. He attacked the strike zone and dared an aggressive Astros lineup to ambush his steady diet of four-seam fastballs and sliders. Houston saw just 94 pitches in the seven innings he worked.
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Verlander surrendered eight hits, struck out five and stayed ahead in the count. The one time he didn’t proved fatal. He fell behind 3-0 against Bregman in the third inning and threw a fastball that leaked over the middle. Bregman bludgeoned it 361 feet away into the Crawford Boxes. His 150th career home run was also his first in a 3-0 count.
“I know Breggy does his homework, sold out for a heater there. It’s on me. Should’ve known a little better,” Verlander said. “Was trying to limit the damage on a big inning there without walking him. Gave in, though, unfortunately.”
Bregman’s two-run homer afforded Valdez ample support as he sliced through the Mets lineup. One mistake spoiled Valdez’s bid at history: a hanging curveball that Mark Canha mashed down the first-base line for a single in the sixth inning.
“I did know,” Valdez said of his perfect game flirtation. “It hurt a little bit that he got that base hit to right field, but the only thing I could do was continue to throw my pitches and just get out of that inning.”
No Met reached scoring position until the eighth inning, when Tommy Pham, Francisco Alvarez and Eduardo Escobar teamed to mount a two-run rally. Brandon Nimmo’s popout to shortstop Jeremy Peña quelled it. The stopper sauntered from the mound as Peña made the catch.
“He’s a dog, man. He goes out there and he’s just a bulldog, dude,” said closer Ryan Pressly, who collected the final three outs. “He’ll go right after you. In this game, that’s what you need. You need guys to attack the strike zone, go deep into games and save your bullpen. Just give us a quality start, give us a chance to win and he’s done that every single time he’s been out there. That’s all, as a team, that we can ask for. He does it every single time he takes the ball.”
(Top photo of Framber Valdez: Carmen Mandato / Getty Images)
