Framber Valdez goes for the Astros tonight. A 25-year-old lefty, Valdez is 9-4 with a 2.80 ERA. Great.
Valdez started against the Guardians in Houston in May and went 7 innings, allowing 3 runs. I think we're going to need more than three runs with Hunter Gaddis starting. Sorry, but a 4.24 ERA in AA don't impress me much, although he does get a lot of K's.
Right-handed batters are hitting .210 against Framber. He's been extremely consistent; his worst monthly ERA was July at 3.21.
If Franmil Reyes were still here we could see a Framber vs. Franmil matchup.
The key against Valdez is to take the first pitch and hit the next one. Batters who put the ball in play on a 1-0 count are hitting .354. If it's an 0-1 count they're hitting .371. If you get down in the count against this guy you're dead meat; his BAA's on 0-2, 1-2, and 2-2 counts are .103, .154, and .083.
It looks like once he gets two strikes on a hitter he won't throw a strike until he has to, and a lot of hitters have been chasing with two strikes.
Will Benson is still looking for that first big league hit. He's 0-for-5 with three K's (but at-bats against Verlander shouldn't count in the stats, IMO).