HOUSTON (SportsRadio 610)- Framber Valdez made his long awaited return to the mound on Friday night and even though the Astros came up short in 11 innings against the San Diego Padres, his presence on the mound gave his teammates a boost.
"It was nice to have Framber back out there," Astros left fielder Chas McCormick said. "He looked ready to go. He looked locked in. He looked really excited, and it was cool to watch and pitch."
It wasn't long ago that it looked like McCormick and the rest of the Astros wouldn't get to see Valdez pitch at all this season after he fractured his left ring finger during his first spring training start on March 2, but a second opinion coupled with a faster than expected rehab meant the Astros lefty made his season debut against the San Diego Padres and his outing went to plan.
"He made some quality pitches, like Framber can," Astros manager Dusty Baker said. "He was wild high, which Framber is not. This is his opening say, so him being wild high isn't indicative of how he throws, and I'm sure he's going to get better and better and better as the season goes on."
After working around a walk in the first inning, Valdez stranded two Padres in the second, the result of a hit batter and an error. His only blemish of the night came in the third inning, when Tommy Pham launched a 3-1 fastball into the right field seats. He allowed a walk and a single after the homer only to wiggle out of trouble.
"I felt like I did a good job for my first outing," Valdez said through an interpreter. "I was just trying to find my balance a little bit with the with the pitches there and find the balance on the mound and be able to execute all my pitches, but I think I did pretty well."
Valdez threw 72 pitches on Friday night, 40 for strikes and allowed just one run on two hits. He walked a pair of Padres and struck out four, the last of which came when he froze Ha-Seong Kim with a curveball on his final pitch of the night, which punctuated a 1-2-3 fourth inning.
"I think that was definitely one of the best curveballs I threw tonight," Valdez said. "I threw six pitches to him in that at bat, and I was able to locate how I want to, throw the backdoor curveball for a strike and be able to get him out there in that situation."
The Astros lost in 11 innings in ugly fashion on Friday night, but the negative of losing one game in May can't outweigh the importance of getting quality starting pitcher back on the mound.
"We're lucky to have him back period," Baker said. "We didn't know if or when we're gonna have him back at all, so it's good to have Framber back in any capacity."
