Astros’ Framber Valdez has plenty of trouble with the curve in loss to Cardinals
ST. LOUIS — The at-bat stretched on and an asset remained absent. Nolan Arenado fell behind 1-2 against Framber Valdez in the fifth inning Monday and commenced a 10-pitch struggle.
Three of its first seven pitches were sinkers. Three others were changeups. One was a slider, one of three sliders Valdez threw all night. Not until pitch eight did Valdez spin a curveball.
It was perhaps telling. Valdez’s curveball was stupendous over his first three starts. Hitters were 1-for-24 with 17 strikeouts against it. Their swings on it produced a 47.8% whiff rate.
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Monday, the pitch was mortal. By the fifth, Cardinals hitters already had four hits against it. Arenado had one, a second-inning double. He popped out on another curveball in the third.
“I thought his (Valdez’s) breaking ball stayed up,” Houston Astros manager Joe Espada said afterward.
Pedro Pagés, the Cardinals’ catcher, pulled a two-strike curveball that hovered in the zone for a two-run double in the third. Valdez did not throw another to his next four hitters. Arenado arrived next.
Valdez buried a 1-2 slider and missed with a sinker. Arenado spoiled another sinker and a low changeup. Only then did Valdez, at last, throw a curveball. Arenado took a big swing and tapped it foul.
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Valdez tried one more sinker off the outside corner. Arenado fought it off with an emergency hack. The 10th pitch was another curveball, away but up. Arenado lined it softly to left field for an RBI double.
“Arenado’s a good hitter,” Valdez said through an interpreter. “And he was able to capitalize on that.”
The result reflected Valdez’s undoing in a rough start Monday. St. Louis stung the left-hander for seven runs (six earned) and 10 hits. Valdez recorded 12 outs at Busch Stadium. Five hits against him went for extra-bases, the most he has allowed in a major-league outing.
Five hits, meanwhile, came against Valdez’s curveball. Arenado was stranded after he doubled on it in the second. Conroe native Luken Baker pulled one through the left side for a third-inning single that set up St. Louis’ first run. Brendan Donovan singled on another ahead of Pagés two-run double in the fourth.
“I’m going to say it wasn’t 100 percent, more like 70, 75 percent,” Valdez said of the curveball. “I fell behind in the count and I wasn’t able to execute the pitches and they were able to capitalize on that.”
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Houston’s lineup was quiet against Sonny Gray, putting an onus on Valdez to prop it up. Initially, he did. Valdez worked a clean first. The Cardinals put runners on second and third with no outs in the second. Valdez struck out Jordan Walker and Nolan Gorman on low curveballs and induced a lineout from Pagés.
“He got some ground balls on his sinker early,” Espada said. “I just thought the curveball sets up the sinker, but some of the balls that they hit hard on him were the breaking balls. He just goes back and makes his adjustments and gets ready for the next start.”
CARDINALS 8, ASTROS 3
| Houston | AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | Avg. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Totals | 32 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 5 | |
| Altuve dh | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .288 |
| a-Rodgers ph-dh | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .242 |
| Paredes 3b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .262 |
| Alvarez lf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .222 |
| Meyers cf | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .244 |
| C.Walker 1b | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .172 |
| Dezenzo 1b | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .133 |
| Diaz c | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .130 |
| Peña ss | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | .207 |
| Smith rf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .205 |
| Dubón 2b | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .182 |
| McCormick cf-lf | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .250 |
| St. Louis | AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | Avg. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Totals | 36 | 8 | 14 | 8 | 2 | 8 | |
| Nootbaar lf | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .279 |
| Siani cf | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .222 |
| Baker dh | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .261 |
| W.Contreras 1b | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .164 |
| Burleson 1b | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .255 |
| Arenado 3b | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | .316 |
| Saggese ss | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .471 |
| Donovan ss-2b | 4 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .391 |
| J.Walker rf | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .273 |
| Gorman 2b-3b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .333 |
| Pagés c | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | .289 |
| V.Scott cf-lf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .259 |
| Houston | 000 | 000 | 003_3 | 7 | 2 |
| St. Louis | 001 | 330 | 10x_8 | 14 | 0 |
a-lined out for Altuve in the 8th.
E_Peña (2), Smith (1). LOB_Houston 4, St. Louis 7. 2B_Dubón (2), Arenado 2 (6), J.Walker (1), Pagés (4), Donovan (5), Nootbaar (2). HR_Peña (3), off Muñoz; Arenado (2), off L.Contreras. RBIs_Peña 3 (7), W.Contreras (7), Pagés 2 (9), Nootbaar (7), Arenado 2 (9), Donovan (11), Gorman (3). SB_W.Contreras (1). CS_McCormick (1). SF_Gorman.
Runners left in scoring position_Houston 1 (Rodgers); St. Louis 4 (Burleson, W.Contreras, Arenado, Pagés). RISP_Houston 2 for 6; St. Louis 4 for 16.
Runners moved up_Baker. GIDP_Diaz, Baker.
DP_Houston 1 (Paredes, Dubón, Dezenzo); St. Louis 1 (Donovan, Gorman, W.Contreras).
| Houston | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | NP | ERA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valdez, L, 1-2 | 4 | 10 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 89 | 4.50 | |
| Sousa | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 27 | 0.00 | |
| L.Contreras | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 35 | 9.00 |
| St. Louis | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | NP | ERA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gray, W, 3-0 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 92 | 3.13 | |
| Fernandez | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 9.00 | |
| Muñoz | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 20 | 16.20 |
Inherited runners-scored_Sousa 1-1.
Umpires_Home, Adrian Johnson; First, Quinn Wolcott; Second, Ramon De Jesus; Third, Paul Clemons.
Valdez’s first four have alternated extremes. He threw seven scoreless innings opening day against the Mets and six scoreless last week in Seattle. In between, he allowed five runs in five innings against the Giants. Those teams totaled 10 hits against him in 18 innings, as many as the Cardinals had Monday.
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Houston is 7-9 yet still seeking its first back-to-back wins of the season. Its offense has been similarly volatile of late. It scored 21 runs in two wins over the Angels around a 4-1 loss. It was held scoreless Monday until the ninth inning, well after Valdez had endured an early exit.
“I felt good, throwing my pitches in the zone,” Valdez said. “But like I’ve always said, I’m not the only one who plays out there. I just throw the ball and whatever happens has to happen.”
