"Winners win baby!" "Framber "Literally an Ace" Valdez" - Houston Astros fans celebrate team's win over the Texas Rangers behind Framber Valdez's 22nd consecutive quality start

The Houston Astros are stringing up victories once more after surprisingly getting upset by the Baltimore Orioles in their previous series. The Astros kicked off their road trip by beating state rivals Texas Rangers 4-2 in tonight's contest.

Houston claimed their 83rd victory of the season and continues to be the top seeded team in the American League. They are currently 11.5 games ahead of their closest competition in the division, the Seattle Mariners.

Starter Framber Valdez keeps his white hot form. He pitched a consecutive 22nd quality start and claimed his 14th victory of the season. The Dominican hurler boasts a 2.63 ERA through 25 starts this year.

With Justin Verlander currently headed to the IL, Valdez has certainly made a case for himself as the ace in the Houston Astros rotation.

Valdez pitched a respectable eight innings against the Rangers by issuing two runs on seven base hits while striking out eight. Hector Neris then came in the ninth to earn his third save of the season.

On the batters' side of things, Jose Altuve went 2-for-5 with a solo home run, a double, and two runs scored. It was the All-Star second baseman's 22nd home run of the term.

Houston Astros kick-off six-game roadtrip with a dub

The Astros opened their six-game trip away from Minute Maid Park with a victory against the Rangers. It will be a short two-game series for the two Texan teams that will culminate tomorrow.

The Houston Astros look set for another dominant run of form even after a hiccup against the Orioles in their previous series. After the series against the Rangers, they will travel to Anaheim to face the Los Angeles Angels.

All eyes will be on this series as Houston needs to prove and assert their dominance over their division counterparts.

For the Angels, what's at stake is showing everyone that they can sustain their good form as of late. At the time of writing, the Angels are riding a four-game win-streak, notching a surprise sweep of AL East powerhouse Toronto and upsetting the Yankees.

The Angels of Anaheim will certainly look forward to proving that they are indeed a quality team despite the meltdown they experienced this year. Another thing to look out for is the performance of Shohei Ohtani, who has been red-hot as of late. He is scheduled to start the second game of the series between the two sides.

About the author

Daniel Santiago is a journalist who has been reporting on baseball at Sportskeeda since 2022. He was drawn towards the sport after the underlying statistics and the analysis surrounding it grabbed his attention.

Daniel particularly enjoys furnishing reports about historic events in baseball and analyzing the game through a statistic-based outlook, based on Fangraphs and Baseball-Reference. This is in line with how he enjoyed watching baseball as a pastime. As a writer, he is very particular about cross-checking from reputable sources and doing his due diligence.

He became a lifelong Hideki Matsui fan after his exploits in the 2009 World Series for the New York Yankees. Among the current generation, Daniel's favorites include Shohei Ohtani and Jung Hoo Lee. Daniel is a huge follower of Asian baseball and both Ohtani and Lee have been in the top echelon of their respective leagues during their time with the NPB and KBO.

His favorite moment as a baseball fan was the final at-bat of the 2023 World Baseball Classic between Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout. He believes there aren't many words to fittingly describe the intensity of the moment.

As an avid sports fan, Daniel watches other sports and Esports when not writing about baseball.

Know More