ARLINGTON, Texas — On Sunday morning, Dusty Baker gathered his team inside the visiting clubhouse at Globe Life Field. The news he shared felt more like a foregone conclusion, a celebration of the two constants in an otherwise inconsistent season.
Houston’s ace is an All-Star, as is its most indispensable player. That both are injured is a befitting encapsulation of the team’s frustrating first half. A more successful second one hinges on the health of Yordan Alvarez and Framber Valdez, the two men who learned on Sunday they are American League All-Stars.
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“I was very excited,” Alvarez said through an interpreter. “All the guys congratulated me and I was very excited.”
Alvarez’s peers elected him to his second consecutive Midsummer Classic. Valdez, the American League’s ERA leader, was selected by the league. The club celebrated them before Sunday’s game — one both men watched from the bench. Those two voids would stagger so many other teams.
Hey now, you’re a 2x All-Star.
Congratulations, Yordan! pic.twitter.com/HJIjTZmsCF
— Houston Astros (@astros) July 2, 2023
Somehow, the Astros are still upright. They appear masters of absorbing absences, be it from their inexperienced bench or a pitching development pipeline that continues to churn out capable arms from almost out of nowhere.
Valdez skipped his start on Sunday after spraining his right ankle, allowing Shawn Dubin to emerge from relative anonymity. The slender right-hander attended four colleges, the third of which disbanded its baseball program before his senior season. He signed for $1,000 after Houston selected him in the 13th round of the 2018 draft.
The Astros hoped he could cover three innings in Valdez’s absence. Dubin delivered four during his first major-league start, limiting one of baseball’s best lineups to one run before Baker unleashed his four high-leverage relievers.
“We got a lot of good players, a lot of good players here and in the minor leagues. I can’t give enough credit to Dubin,” outfielder Chas McCormick said. “He did a great job today, going four innings, saving the bullpen. He did great today and we kind of fed off him. Being a little injured, like we are, it was huge to get two wins here.”
Alvarez and shortstop Jeremy Peña missed the first three games of this series. The Astros won two of them. Winning on Monday would capture the series, but a split guarantees the Astros will leave town Monday night just as they entered Friday: five games back of the Rangers in the American League West.
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“I know we’re missing some good players, but we also have a lot of great players,” second baseman Jose Altuve said. “ … It seems like it always happens, one different guy every day doing big things for our team. We’re really happy about it.”
Altuve played his 31st game of the season on Sunday. His fractured thumb in March portended a miserable run of injuries that marred Houston’s first half. Altuve and Alvarez have only started 13 games together all season.
That the Astros still sit eight games over .500 is somewhat stunning. The team is 10-11 since Alvarez strained his oblique on June 8. The injury will force Alvarez to miss the All-Star Game, but he will travel to Seattle to soak in the pageantry and participate in the pregame festivities. Alvarez did not attend last season’s game in Los Angeles while nursing a right hand injury.
“I saw it on TV and I was like ‘Wow, I wish I was a part of that,’” Alvarez said. “This year, I have the opportunity so I’m definitely going to go.”
Without Alvarez, a lineup already lacking length is even shorter. The imbalance is apparent, forcing Baker to fill the back half of his batting order with a glut of young, right-handed hitters who haven’t harnessed much consistency.
Among them, only McCormick entered play on Sunday sporting an OPS+ above league average. He inflated it with a go-ahead, three-run triple in the eighth inning against Rangers reliever Josh Sborz. McCormick now sports a .797 OPS and .458 slugging percentage after 175 plate appearances.
Baker has started McCormick just 13 times in the 21 games since Alvarez’s injury. He’s hit higher than sixth in the batting order only twice. Yainer Diaz, who has hit as high as fifth in the lineup during Alvarez’s absence, is 5-for-38 with 12 strikeouts with runners in scoring position this season. Three of those punchouts came on Sunday, stranding five runners in scoring position.
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Diaz flew out with two on and one out in the eighth, too, before McCormick gave Houston a lead out of the eight-hole. Baker is committed to rotating McCormick, Jake Meyers and Corey Julks around the two vacant outfield spots to, in his words, “keep everyone sharp.”
When an offense is listless without Alvarez, more flexibility in lineup construction should be mandatory. Baker does not seem to subscribe to the theory, but writing batting orders without one of baseball’s best hitters is a daunting task.
“Life’s not pleasant without Yordan in there,” Baker bemoaned before Sunday’s game.
Alvarez took a step on Sunday toward brightening Baker’s outlook. For the first time since his injury, Alvarez took batting practice from overhand pitching inside the batting cages. He said he swung at 60 percent intensity but planned to “ramp it up a little bit more” on Monday. The team is still targeting a return shortly after the All-Star break.
“It’s definitely been very frustrating,” Alvarez said. “It’s something that just came out of nowhere. I was feeling really good at the plate. It was something I obviously wasn’t planning for. Was trying to hide it as much as I could, but the pain just got to a point that I really couldn’t hide it and I had to tell the team about it. Very frustrating because I was feeling very good at the plate. Being out four to six weeks is something I don’t wish on anyone.”
While Alvarez swung in the cage, Valdez tested his bum ankle on a stationary bike and reported feeling “better.” Valdez hopes to make one more start before the All-Star Game — either Thursday or Friday against the Seattle Mariners at Minute Maid Park.
Starting on Thursday would put Valdez on regular rest for the All-Star Game on July 11. Even pitching Friday would leave him just one day short. He said he won’t lobby Baker — the American League manager — to start the exhibition. He doesn’t believe he needs to.
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“I think the numbers and the work (are) there,” Valdez said through an interpreter. “I think everything is just laid out there and he can make the decision on who should be the starter.”
Valdez’s 2.49 ERA is the lowest among qualified American League starters. Of the five pitchers with sub-3 ERAs, only Gerrit Cole and Nathan Eovaldi have thrown more innings. If Valdez made his start on Sunday, it stands to reason he’d have passed both men. He’s gone at least seven innings in nine of his 16 starts.
On Sunday, Baker did not want to answer whether he will start Valdez in the All-Star Game. He seemed far more preoccupied with the predicament ahead of him: a bullpen game behind a rookie starter during a consequential division series. Somehow, his team survived it.
“This club, they like to win. They love to win,” Baker said. “And they know how to win. No matter who we put out there, we expect them to do the job, even if they might not do as good a job as the people they’re replacing. Just do what you’re capable of doing and doing what it takes to help us win.”
(Photo of Framber Valdez: Carmen Mandato / Getty Images)
