Framber Valdez Outduels Shohei Ohtani, Dominating the Angels en Route to an Astros 3-1 Win

Framber Valdez was nearly perfect tonight.

Yes, the Angels managed to get one run on a home run in the third inning by rookie Zach Neto. The rest of the Angels looked silly.

It turns out that it was the Astros, not the Angels, who had the best pitcher tonight. Valdez gave up just three hits with no walks and struck out 12 in eight innings. His last batter was Mike Trout, who struck out for the second time. Valdez threw a phenomenal 75 strikes out of 99 pitches.

Meanwhile, the Astros struggled against Shohei Ohtani. Except for one five-batter stretch in the fifth inning. Jake Meyers walked, and — can you believe it —Martin Maldonado homered.

But that’s not all!

Mauricio Dubon and Alex Bregman assembled back-to-back singles, and Yordan Alvarez singled home Dubon. (Dubon left the game thereafter with “hamstring discomfort”)

Ryan Pressly saved the game with two Ks, and that’s about it.

The Astros managed to snap their three-game losing streak against one of the most intimidating pitchers of all time. Tomorrow they go for a series win behind Cristian Javier at 3:07 CT.

Box score HERE.