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Houston Astros Continue to Lead Recent Baseball History in Amazing Category

The Houston Astros beat the Kansas City Royals in walk-off fashion after flirting with yet another no-hitter on Friday night.

Brady Farkas

Houston Astros starting pitcher Framber Valdez (59) pitches against the Kansas City Royals in the first inning at Minute Maid Park on Aug 30.
Houston Astros starting pitcher Framber Valdez (59) pitches against the Kansas City Royals in the first inning at Minute Maid Park on Aug 30. / Thomas Shea-USA TODAY Sports
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The Houston Astros beat the Kansas City Royals in exhilarating fashion for the second consecutive night on Friday at Minute Maid Park.

On Thursday, the Astros scored four runs in the eighth inning to win 6-2. On Friday, they got a walk-off double from franchise legend Jose Altuve to win 3-2.

However, prior to that, the Astros were actually flirting with yet another no-hitter. The combination of Framber Valdez and Bryan Abreu no-hit the Royals for 7.2 innings before K.C. got a single in the top of the eighth. The Royals scored two runs in the top of the ninth to tie the game before Altuve's heroics.

With the near no-hitter, the Astros hold a special place in recent baseball history.

Per Sarah Langs of MLB.com on social media:

most no-hit bids of 7+ IP since start of 2019, including playoffs:

Astros: 17
Padres: 8
Yankees: 7

Given how good the Astros have been and the analytical advantage they've had for years, this shouldn't surprise people. Furthermore, they've had Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole, Valdez and Zack Greinke during this time, so they've had truly elite arms as well.

The Astros are currently 73-62 on the season. They continue to hold off the Seattle Mariners in the American League West race and are looking to win the division yet again.

They'll take on the Royals again on Saturday night in game three of the four-game set. Left-hander Cole Ragans will pitch for Kansas City while Yusei Kikuchi pitches for Houston. Ragans is 10-8 with a 3.28 ERA. Kikuchi is 6-9 with a 4.39.

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Brady Farkas

BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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