Framber Valdez turned in yet another quality start last night against the Texas Rangers, leading the Houston Astros to 4-2 road victory in their series opener at Globe Life Field in Arlington.
The left-hander pitched eight innings and allowed just two runs, earning his 14th win of the 2022 season.
Valdez has now turned in 22 consecutive quality starts, which ties Chris Carpenter‘s total from 2005.
In fact, he’s approaching a record over the last 100 years set by Bob Gibson and recently tied by Jacob deGrom.
Between 2018 and 2019, deGrom had 26 consecutive quality starts.
Gibson did the same between 1967 and 1968.
Obviously, Valdez needs just four more quality starts to tie that record and five to break it.
Longest streaks of quality MLB starts, last 100 years:
Jacob deGrom, 2018/2019 —-> 26
Bob Gibson, 1967/1968 —-> 26
Jake Arrieta, 2015/2016 —-> 24
Chris Carpenter, 2005 —-> 22
Framber Valdez, 2022 —-> 22 👀 https://t.co/S3Som0TTjK— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) August 31, 2022
Valdez Approaching History
There’s no reason to think that Valdez can’t at least tie this record.
That would put him in some elite company with two of the greatest pitchers the game has ever seen.
Tying Chris Carpenter at 22 is impressive enough.
He’s also two away from tying Jake Arrieta, who had 24 quality starts between 2015 and 2016.
Valdez has been nothing short of an ace this season and he gave the Astros everything they needed last night, especially after it was learned that Justin Verlander would need to go on the injured list with a right calf issue.
With his eight innings of two-run ball, Valdez lowered his ERA to 2.63 on the season.
He also struck out eight batters and surrendered just seven hits.
Even without Verlander, this rotation is incredibly deep, and Valdez is one of the main reasons why.
His run of quality starts has been nothing short of impressive as the Astros continue to dominate the American League.
We’ll see if he can match deGrom and Gibson with four more quality starts to follow his most recent one.
