Texas Rangers' Corey Seager Crushes Home Run to Break Up Framber Valdez's No-Hit Bid

Houston Astros lefty Framber Valdez was one out away from recording his second career no-hitter before he gave up a 411-foot home run to Texas Rangers shortstop Corey Seager.

Aug 6, 2024; Arlington, Texas, USA; Houston Astros starting pitcher Framber Valdez (59) laughs at the end of the third inning against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field. / Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Framber Valdez was one strike away from history.

Josh Smith kept his bat on his shoulder, though, drawing a walk with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. Starting over with a fresh count, Valdez instead had to close out his second career no-hitter against Corey Seager.

It didn't take long for Seager to make Valdez regret walking Smith.

The Texas Rangers shortstop saw one pitch from the Houston Astros lefty – an 85 mile-per-hour slider over the middle – and pulled it for a 411-foot, two-run home run. The Astros still led 4-2, but Valdez's no-hit bid had been broken up in the most explosive way possible.

Corey Seager hits a 2-run homer to break up Framber Valdez's no-hit bid with 2 outs in the 9th! pic.twitter.com/aOJzl3AXMN

— MLB (@MLB) August 7, 2024

Josh Hader came in to get the last out in Valdez's place, only to immediately walk Marcus Semien. He then allowed a deep fly ball of his own to Josh Jung, although right fielder Chas McCormick was able to track it down for the long-awaited final out.

Valdez had only thrown 93 pitches through 8.0 innings, so he wasn't going beyond his normal workload by going out for the ninth. He had already topped 100 pitches on four occasions this season entering Tuesday, tossing a complete game on June 7.

On Aug. 1, 2023, Valdez threw a no-hitter against the Cleveland Guardians, needing just 93 pitches to do so. That marked the 17th no-no in franchise history, but the first from a lefty.

The Astros already got a no-hitter out of Ronel Blanco on April 1 earlier this season. If Valdez had closed his out on Tuesday, they would have posted two no-hitters in the same year for the second time in three seasons.

Both of Houston's no-hitters in 2022 were combined, though, as no team has notched multiple solo no-nos in a single season since Max Scherzer had two with the Washington Nationals in 2015.

Valdez was on the verge of becoming the 36th player in MLB history to throw multiple no-hitters. There have been 325 no-hitters since 1875 and three in 2024.

Even with the disappointing end to his outing on Tuesday, Valdez improved to 11-5 with a 3.46 ERA this season. Valdez is now 56-31 with a 3.23 ERA since becoming a full-time starter in 2020.

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