Framber Valdez was unhittable Tuesday night.
The Houston Astros left-hander needed only 93 pitches to record the first no-hitter of his Major League Baseball career, in a 2-0 victory over the Cleveland Guardians at Minute Maid Park on Tuesday.
Valdez’s no-hitter is also the 16th in franchise history.
The 93 pitches were the fewest pitches thrown by a single pitcher in a no-hitter or perfect game since David Cone needed only 88 pitches in a perfect game against the Montreal Expos in 1999.
Valdez was dominant from the start as he retired the first 12 Guardians he faced, including striking out six of those 12 hitters. The lone miscue was when Valdez walked Oscar Gonzalez to start the fifth inning.
Valdez would go on to retire the final nine batters of the game and finished with seven strikeouts. With the win, Valdez improves to 9-7 overall on the season and his ERA is now at 3.07.
With Valdez dealing, the Astros didn’t need a ton of run production as Kyle Tucker delivered a two-run single in the third inning.
The other two no-hitters-perfect games thrown this season came courtesy of New York Yankees right-hander Domingo German on June 28th and the Detroit Tigers, who had three pitchers combine for a no-hitter against the Toronto Blue Jays on July 8th.
Houston will face Cleveland in the rubber match of the series at 1:10 p.m. Wednesday. You can listen to the game live on ESPN 103.7 Lafayette and 104.1 Lake Charles — Southwest Louisiana’s Sports Station.