Latest news with #YainerDiaz
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Hunter Brown first to 8 wins after allowing 1 hit in 6 innings as Astros beat Rays 1-0
Houston Astros catcher Yainer Diaz, left, and center fielder Jacob Melton celebrate after winning a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays in Houston, Sunday, June 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis) Tampa Bay Rays' Taylor Walls, center, runs after umpire Vic Carapazza, left, after he's ejected by Umpire Nic Lentz for tapping his helmet after a strike call during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Houston Astros in Houston, Sunday, June 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis) Tampa Bay Rays' Taylor Walls, center, is held back after he's ejected by Umpire Nic Lentz, left, for tapping his helmet after a strike call during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Houston Astros in Houston, Sunday, June 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis) Houston Astros starting pitcher Hunter Brown throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays in Houston, Sunday, June 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis) Houston Astros starting pitcher Hunter Brown reacts after Tampa Bay Rays designated hitter Yandy Diaz grounds out during the sixth inning of a baseball game in Houston, Sunday, June 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis) Houston Astros starting pitcher Hunter Brown reacts after Tampa Bay Rays designated hitter Yandy Diaz grounds out during the sixth inning of a baseball game in Houston, Sunday, June 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis) Houston Astros catcher Yainer Diaz, left, and center fielder Jacob Melton celebrate after winning a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays in Houston, Sunday, June 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis) Tampa Bay Rays' Taylor Walls, center, runs after umpire Vic Carapazza, left, after he's ejected by Umpire Nic Lentz for tapping his helmet after a strike call during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Houston Astros in Houston, Sunday, June 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis) Tampa Bay Rays' Taylor Walls, center, is held back after he's ejected by Umpire Nic Lentz, left, for tapping his helmet after a strike call during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Houston Astros in Houston, Sunday, June 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis) Houston Astros starting pitcher Hunter Brown throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays in Houston, Sunday, June 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis) Houston Astros starting pitcher Hunter Brown reacts after Tampa Bay Rays designated hitter Yandy Diaz grounds out during the sixth inning of a baseball game in Houston, Sunday, June 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis) HOUSTON (AP) — Hunter Brown allowed one hit in six innings to become the first eight-game winner in the majors, and the Houston Astros edged the Tampa Bay Rays 1-0 on Sunday to split a four-game series. Josh Hader earned his 15th save for the Astros, who scored an unearned run in the first. Jeremy Peña reached on a fielding error by third baseman Junior Caminero and scored on Christian Walker's two-out single off Taj Bradley (4-5). Advertisement Houston reliever Bryan King retired two batters and permitted the only other Tampa Bay hit. Bryan Abreu got four outs to set up Hader. Brown (8-3) didn't give up a hit until Josh Lowe singled to left field leading off the sixth. The right-hander then struck Brandon Lowe before ending his outing with a double play. The Rays (30-29) outscored the Astros 29-6 in their two wins. Houston (32-27) outscored Tampa Bay 3-1 in its two wins. Tampa Bay's Taylor Walls was ejected for arguing with plate umpire Nic Lentz with one out in the ninth. Christopher Morel finished the at-bat and struck out. Hader fanned Caminero to end it and hasn't blown a save this season. Advertisement Jacob Melton made his big league debut for the Astros, beating out a grounder to second for his first hit after looking at a called third strike his first time up. He started in center field and finished 1 for 3. Key moment Already trailing, Bradley had runners at the corners with nobody out in the third. But he struck out Isaac Paredes swinging, got Jose Altuve to pop out and struck out Walker looking to escape unscathed. Key stat Brown has a 1.83 ERA in 13 starts — fifth-lowest in the majors. Up next Rays RHP Drew Rasmussen (4-4, 2.33 ERA) starts Tuesday against Rangers RHP Tyler Mahle (5-2, 1.64) to begin a six-game homestand. Astros RHP Lance McCullers Jr. (0-1, 5.89 ERA) pitches Tuesday against Pirates RHP Paul Skenes (4-5, 2.15) to begin a six-game trip. ___ AP MLB:
Reuters
a day ago
- General
- Reuters
Hunter Brown pitches Astros past Rays
June 1 - Hunter Brown allowed one hit and recorded his fifth scoreless start of the season, and the Houston Astros earned a split of their four-game series with the visiting Tampa Bay Rays with a 1-0 victory on Sunday. The Astros scratched across an unearned run in the bottom of the first inning against Rays right-hander Taj Bradley (4-5) and made that tally stand. Houston recorded one-run victories in its two wins during the series while allowing 29 runs in losses on Thursday and Saturday. Brown (8-3) earned a measure of revenge against the Rays, who tagged Brown with his worst showing of the season by scoring five runs on seven hits, including three home runs, over five innings on May 21 in Tampa. Brown worked six innings in the rematch and issued four walks while recording five strikeouts. Brown threw 93 pitches, just 49 for strikes. Brown retired the first six batters he faced before he issued his first walk to Kameron Misner leading off the top of the third inning. Astros catcher Yainer Diaz erased Misner as he attempted to steal second base, mitigating a subsequent Brown walk to Matt Thaiss later in the inning. Brown worked around a leadoff walk to Junior Caminero in the fifth and another to Thaiss to open the sixth. Josh Lowe followed the walk to Thaiss with the lone hit off Brown, a single to left field, but Brown rallied by inducing Yandy Diaz to ground into an inning-ending double play. Bryan King, Bryan Abreu and closer Josh Hader completed the combined two-hit shutout. Hader notched his 15th save with a perfect ninth. Bradley was exceptional, but a fielding error by Caminero at third base allowed Jeremy Pena to reach second base to open the bottom of the first. Three batters later, Christian Walker delivered an RBI single that scored Pena. Bradley allowed just one additional baserunner to reach scoring position. Mauricio Dubon walked leading off the third and advanced to third when Pena added a single. But Bradley retired six consecutive batters following the Pena hit. When Pena walked with one out and Dubon on in the fifth, Bradley responded by retiring the final eight batters he faced. Bradley allowed three hits, issued two walks and had a season-high 10 strikeouts over seven innings. --Field Level Media
New York Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Astros' Framber Valdez ‘the best I've seen him' in 83-pitch complete game masterpiece
HOUSTON — Framber Valdez can epitomize efficiency. Soft contact supersedes strikeouts for a sinkerballer on the precipice of a payday. This platform year is a showcase for one the sport's pre-eminent southpaws, a seven-month sojourn toward a nine-figure salary. Vintage Valdez is worth every penny a team is willing to pay. History suggests the Houston Astros won't be serious bidders but will settle for savoring the final season from a homegrown success story. Such is routine across their golden era. Advertisement Extending it into another October rests, in part, on Valdez's broad shoulders. Injuries have ravaged Houston's starting rotation to an almost unrecognizable state. Valdez and Hunter Brown are its two constants, calming forces amid so much chaos. Brown's ascension into acehood has captivated the city. Valdez already resided there, a fact this magical Friday helped to accentuate. Games in late May only carry so much cachet, but what unfolded across two hours and two minutes at Daikin Park will resonate for however long Houston survives this season. Valdez authored one of his finest starts as an Astro in what is probably his final season with the team. His batterymate, Yainer Diaz, delivered a walk-off home run to reward him with a win he wholeheartedly deserved. 'I think it's one of my best outings in my career so far,' Valdez said through an interpreter. Valdez fired the game's first pitch at 7:12 p.m. Tampa Bay Rays leadoff man Jose Caballero clubbed the second into the Crawford Boxes for a solo home run. 'He got really pissed off,' manager Joe Espada said. 'His stuff just got better. He said 'They're not going to touch me anymore.'' And so they didn't. Valdez delivered perhaps the most dominant start of his major-league career, toying with Tampa's aggressive lineup across nine incredible innings of a 2-1 win. He struck out nine, surrendered two singles after Caballero's solo shot and operated at a pace and pitch count rarely seen in the modern era. Went the distance.#BuiltForThis x @budweiserusa — Houston Astros (@astros) May 31, 2025 Valdez needed 83 pitches to finish the ninth complete game of his career. No major leaguer had thrown fewer in a nine-inning complete game since Kyle Hendricks required 81 to shut out the St. Louis Cardinals on May 3, 2019. No Astro had thrown a complete game on fewer than 85 pitches since Darryl Kile no-hit the New York Mets on Sept. 8, 1993. Advertisement Valdez has a no-hitter of his own. Last season in Arlington, he came within one out of another. Both he and Espada intimated Friday's start was better, even if four Rays reached base. Valdez harnessed impeccable command of his two-seam fastball. Twenty-four of the 31 he threw were either swung upon or called a strike. Fourteen of the 19 balls Tampa put in play against him were groundouts. Shortstop Jeremy Peña fielded nine of them, including the 6-4-3 double play ball that erased Jonathan Aranda's infield single in the fifth. 'We were very aggressive in attacking the zone,' Diaz said through an interpreter. 'The other team, they get scared when we are right on them with the pitches. I think that's what worked today, is that we were aggressive and attacking the zone pretty effectively today.' Only seven teams entered Friday with a higher swing rate than the Rays. Only seven others — including the Astros — swing at more first pitches than Tampa. Five of Valdez's outs arrived on the first pitch of a plate appearance, and he did not reach a three-ball count until the ninth inning. 'It influenced a lot,' Valdez said of the Rays' aggressiveness. 'We know that's a team that attacks a lot on the first pitch. That's why we're professionals here. We study and have plans of attack.' Tampa's inability to hit left-handed pitching has been a hallmark of its season. Only eight lineups entered Friday with a lower OPS against southpaws than Tampa's. Two of the team's best hitters, Brandon Lowe and Josh Lowe, are left-handed. They sat Friday opposite Valdez. Even starting them may not have mattered. Valdez dominated whomever Tampa sent to the plate. He needed fewer than 10 pitches to finish six of his nine innings. The Rays saw just seven pitches in the sixth, one Caballero completed by watching an 0-2 curveball land inside his strike zone. Advertisement The Rays swung 14 times against Valdez's curveball. Seven were whiffs. Six of Valdez's nine strikeouts concluded upon it. Valdez produced a punchout in every inning but the ninth. Nine-hole hitter Taylor Walls singled, and Caballero worked a four-pitch walk, forcing Espada to activate his bullpen, even if he had no intention of using it. 'That's (Valdez's) game, and he was going to stay out there, and he was going to decide the fate of his own game,' Espada said. Only if cleanup man Junior Caminero came to the plate would Espada reconsider. Valdez and Diaz never allowed him to step on deck. Diaz caught Walls trying to steal third base — just the seventh time in 76 attempts an Astros catcher has thrown out a base stealer. 'That was a huge out for us because it gave my pitcher confidence to concentrate on the hitter and not on the base runners,' Diaz said. Concentration is perhaps Valdez's biggest hurdle. Bad calls, cheap hits or misplays behind him often cause him to lose focus or fall apart. Plays like the one Diaz made motivate him. He fell behind Yandy Díaz 2-0 before Yainer Diaz threw out Walls. After he did, Valdez delivered two pitches. Yandy Díaz grounded the second to Peña, who finished the 27th out of a terrific night. 'This is the best I've seen him,' Espada said.
Reuters
3 days ago
- General
- Reuters
Yainer Diaz slams walk-off homer as Astros edge Rays
May 31 - Yainer Diaz socked an opposite-field, walk-off home run with two outs in the ninth inning to lift the Houston Astros to a 2-1 victory over the visiting Tampa Bay Rays on Friday. Diaz clubbed his seventh home run off Rays' left-handed reliever Garrett Cleavinger (0-1), who struck out the first two batters of the ninth. Diaz drilled a first-pitch slider to right for the victory. Trailing 1-0 entering the bottom of the eighth inning, the Astros rallied to draw even. Jake Meyers opened the frame with a double to left-center field off Rays' reliever Kevin Kelly and scored when Zach Dezenzo followed with an infield single. The grounder was fielded by second baseman Curtis Mead, who attempted a challenging jump throw that eluded first baseman Jonathan Aranda and allowed Meyers to round third base and score the tying run. The Rays grabbed a 1-0 lead on the second pitch of the game when Jose Caballero smacked his second home run of the season 383 feet to left field off Astros left-hander Framber Valdez (5-4). That was the extent of the damage surrendered by Valdez, who retired 12 consecutive batters following the Caballero homer. Aranda opened the fifth with a single, but Valdez erased him by getting Mead to hit into a double play. Valdez then retired the Rays in order in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings. Valdez allowed a one-out single to Taylor Walls in the ninth, who advanced to second base on a wild pitch. After a walk to Caballero, Diaz cut down Walls as he attempted to steal third base. Valdez completed the ninth by getting Yandy Diaz to ground out to short. He allowed one run on three hits, with one walk and nine strikeouts. He threw only 83 pitches. Rays right-hander Ryan Pepiot was brilliant in producing his fifth consecutive quality start. Pepiot faced the minimum through four innings, thanks in large part to a base-running gaffe by Meyers in the bottom of the third. Meyers dumped a single into shallow left field to open that frame, and with one out, broke for second base on a pitch to Mauricio Dubon, who sent a line drive to Caballero in right field. Meyers hesitated a beat as Caballero made the catch and was doubled off first base to end the threat. Pepiot cruised from there, retiring the Astros in order in the fourth and sixth and working around a two-out walk to Cam Smith in the fifth. He set down Isaac Paredes and Jose Altuve to open the seventh but departed when Christian Walker slapped a single to center field. Pepiot allowed two hits and one walk while recording four strikeouts over 6 2/3 scoreless innings. He tossed 93 pitches, 61 for strikes, in his second consecutive scoreless appearance. --Field Level Media
Associated Press
3 days ago
- General
- Associated Press
Yainer Diaz's walkoff home run backs Framber Valez's three-hitter as Astros beat Rays 2-1
HOUSTON (AP) — Yainer Diaz homered with two outs in the ninth inning and Framber Valdez pitched a three-hitter to lead the Houston Astros to a 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday night. The score was tied 1-1 entering the ninth. Garrett Cleavinger (0-1) struck out Jose Altuve and Christian Walker before Diaz sent a 98 mph sinker into the seats in right field to set off a wild celebration. Valdez (5-4) gave up a homer to Jose Caballero in the first inning and tied a season high with nine strikeouts in his ninth career complete game and second this season. Houston trailed 1-0 when Jake Meyers doubled to center field with no outs in the eighth inning and scored on Zach Dezenzo's single on a grounder. Dezenzo moved to second on a throwing error by second baseman Curtis Mead on the play. Caballero homered on Valdez's second pitch to give the Rays an early lead. The homer was just his second this season and the first since April 9. Rays starter Ryan Pepiot allowed two hits in 6 2/3 scoreless innings in his second strong start after he threw seven scoreless innings in his last start. Valdez retired 12 straight before Jonathan Aranda singled on a chopper to first base to start the fifth. Valdez got right back on track, striking out Danny Jansen before Mead grounded into a double play to end the inning. Valdez sailed through the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, sitting down nine straight batters with three strikeouts. Taylor Walls singled with one out in the ninth before Caballero walked. Walls was caught stealing third and Valdez retired Yandy Díaz on a groundout to complete his night. Walker singled with two outs in the seventh to chase Pepiot. Kevin Kelly took over and was greeted with a single by Diaz. The Astros came away empty when Kelly struck out Cam Smith. Key moment The home run by Diaz allowed Houston to rally after losing the series opener 13-3. Key stat Valdez needed just 83 pitches to complete the game. Up next Rays RHP Zack Littell (4-5, 3.97 ERA) opposes Astros LHP Colton Gordon (0-0, 3.52) on Saturday. ___ AP MLB:
