Houston Astros' Valdez Continues Streak in Loss to Texas Rangers

Three errors came back to bite the Houston Astros as they dropped Wednesday's contest, 4-3, to the Texas Rangers.

Framber Valdez has been all about quality this season. The lefty picked up his 23rd consecutive quality start Tuesday, extending his outing to his second-highest pitch count of the season with 107.

Valdez ran into trouble early. Following a walk to Mark Mathias in the second inning, the Houston Astros hurler yielded a single, a double and another single as three runs crossed the plate. One of which went unearned due to a throwing error from José Altuve.

Valdez fought back in the frame with back-to-back strikeouts and a groundout to limit further damage. The Texas Rangers didn't again flirt with run production until Valdez's final inning.

Corey Seager reached on a fielding error by Yuli Gurriel. Advancing to second base on a Nate Lowe single, Seager reached third a batter later on an Adolis García groundout. A wild pitch was the deciding factor with Seager crossing home, giving the Rangers a one-run lead with two outs in the seventh inning.

Manager Dusty Baker gave Valdez the hook after 6 2/3 innings pitched with 11 strikeouts, handing the ball to Phil Maton for the final out. Maton struck out Leody Taveras to end the frame before Ryne Stanek was tasked for the eighth.

Stanek tossed a perfect inning with three strikeouts on 15 pitches, lowering his ERA to 1.17. Left-hander Will Smith took the ninth inning and followed with his own clean inning while allowing one base runner

Houston Astros Right Fielder Kyle Tucker / Thomas Shea-USA TODAY Sports

The offense matched Texas' total early on. Kyle Tucker singled, took second on a passed ball and stole third before Gurriel brought him home on a ground ball to the right side. 

Tucker recently joined the 20/20 club and has continued to chase 30 in both categories with roughly four weeks in the regular season. The 25-year-old stole two bases last night, moving his season total to 22 with 23 home runs on the season.

Only five players in Major League Baseball have reached the milestone this season, and Tucker is just the 10th player in franchise history to do so. Since 2000, Carlos Beltrán (2004) and Altuve (2016-17) are the only two Astros to break into the club.

Altuve, active Tuesday, lined his 24th home run of the season over the right-field wall, cutting the Astros' deficit to one run. It was the righty's fourth home run the opposite way this season. Fan interference was reviewed, but the run counted.

Houston's final run crossed in the fourth inning after a Chas McCormick infield single scored Tucker. The Astros went 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position Tuesday, leaving nine runners on.

Returning to the diamond at 7:10 p.m. Wednesday, Houston looks to win the series behind Cristian Javier. Texas is scheduled to send lefty Cole Ragans to the mound before the two clubs' days off Thursday.

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