Jose Altuve hit a walk-off double with two outs in the ninth inning as the Houston Astros recovered from a gut punch in the top of that frame to beat the visiting Kansas City Royals 3-2 on Friday.
Altuve notched his sixth career walk-off hit in the regular season (1 postseason), and his first since July 11, 2021, vs. the New York Yankees. It was a shot off Royals reliever James McArthur (5-6), who surrendered a one-out, opposite-field single to Jake Meyers that set the table for Altuve. Meyers scored from first when the ball caromed off the left field wall and rolled away from left fielder MJ Melendez.
Astros left-hander Framber Valdez threw seven no-hit innings and nearly tossed his second no-hitter for the second time this season. He logged 8 2/3 no-hit innings against the Texas Rangers on Aug. 6 and tossed his first career no-hitter against the Cleveland Guardians on Aug. 1, 2023.
Valdez was locked in a pitchers’ duel with Royals right-hander Seth Lugo, who allowed just one run on six hits and one walk with nine strikeouts over seven innings. The lone run came in the bottom of the third inning when Astros left fielder Ben Gamel hit his first home run since Oct. 2, 2022, a 356-foot drive to left-center field that gave the Astros a 1-0 lead.
Houston added an insurance run in the eighth when Jeremy Pena followed back-to-back hits against Royals reliever Carlos Hernandez with a sacrifice fly that drove home Yainer Diaz.
But the Royals pounced when Pena booted a routine grounder off the bat of Bobby Witt Jr. to open the ninth. Two batters later, Paul DeJong clubbed his 24th homer to left-center field off Astros closer Josh Hader, knotting the score at 2. Hader (7-7) had converted 29 consecutive save opportunities.
Valdez recorded his fifth scoreless outing of the season. He faced the minimum through five innings and erased the Royals’ lone baserunner during that stretch when Freddy Fermin rolled into a 6-4-3 double play after DeJong worked a leadoff walk in the second.
Valdez retired 11 consecutive batters through the fifth inning before issuing a leadoff walk to Royals left fielder Dairon Bland in the sixth. He rebounded by recording four successive outs before running into trouble in the seventh after he hit Salvador Perez with a pitch and walked Fermin with two outs.
With the tying run in scoring position, Valdez capped his outing by getting a called third strike on Nick Loftin. Valdez issued three walks and recorded seven strikeouts while tossing 98 pitches.
–Field Level Media
