Framber Valdez vanquishes World Series ghosts in Game 2

Framber Valdez got some World Series redemption as the left-handed pitched the Houston Astros to a Game 2 win on Saturday to even the series.

Framber Valdez’s last memory of standing on the mound at Minute Maid Park in the World Series was of the Atlanta Braves circling the bases.

In Game 1 of last year’s series, Jorge Soler took the third pitch Valdez threw into the Crawford Boxes in left field, the first-ever home run leading off the World Series. Valdez also surrendered a two-run homer to Adam Duvall and left before getting an out in the third inning after giving up five runs.

His second chance at redemption didn’t go much better. Duvall hit a grand slam, Freddie Freeman launched a ball 460 feet to center, and Valdez again failed to get out of the third inning. The left-hander was a mere spectator by the time the Astros came back to win and force a sixth game.

Valdez gave up 10 runs in that series, his 19.29 ERA the second-worst in the Divisional Era among World Series pitchers with at least two starts. He took the mound on Saturday for Game 2 against the Philadelphia Phillies with all those memories, all those demons threatening to haunt him as the Astros tried to avoid going down 0-2 in the series.

He wasn’t bothered one bit. Those ghosts of World Series past were forcefully exorcized as Valdez, with steady offerings of sweeping curves and devastating sinkers, held off the red-hot Phillies offense and helped the Astros to a 5-2 win.

“Definitely last year my emotions got the best of me. I wasn’t able to throw even more than two innings without giving up a run. But those were things that I was able to learn, separate my emotions from my job,” Valdez said following Game 2.

“Whenever I’m on the field, on the mound, I just kept my emotions outside the field. Try to stay calm, collected. Sometimes I get excited and the emotions might get to me a little bit, but I always try to think back and keep my emotions outside of that. Keep it away from work.”

Framber Valdez kept the Phillies batters flailing away in Game 2

Valdez led the league during the regular season in ground ball percentage and induced nine on Saturday. He also struck out nine as the Phillies made only one out in the air, a line drive by Bryce Harper in the first inning.

In the first, after Rhys Hoskins walked with one out, Valdez got J.T. Realmuto swinging at a curve that was nearly on his shoetops. Even Harper, the hottest hitter on the planet entering the series, fell victim to the curve, going down swinging in the fourth inning on a pitch that vanished out of the strike zone.

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The Phillies got their leadoff hitter on in the fifth before Valdez got Matt Viering to hit into a double play and struck out Edmundo Sosa looking at an inside baseball, Valdez smacking his glove as he walked off the mound.

In the sixth, with two runners on following a leadoff walk to Kyle Schwarber and a single by Hoskins, Realmuto struck out on a fastball up out of the zone. Valdez then did what he does best: get a groundball. Harper swung at the first pitch and tapped a weak grounder to second for an inning-ending double play. Valdez gave out a big fist pump and couldn’t help but flash a big smile as he headed back to the dugout.

Valdez’s outing came to an end in the seventh after — what else? — a ground out by Alec Bohm. He got a rousing ovation from the Minute Maid Park crowd, the same fans who fell eerily silent after the home runs he surrendered last year. Valdez went 6.1 innings, the longest World Series start by any pitcher in three years, giving up only four hits and one earned run.

Valdez was eager to put what happened a year ago behind him. He pulled off 25 straight quality starts during the regular season, the longest streak in MLB history. The Astros even made shirts celebrating his “Quality Start Tour.” Then he went out and improved to 2-0 this postseason, surrendering just three earned runs over 19 innings.

The ghosts are gone, and the Astros, a night after blowing a Game 1 five-run lead, are back in the Fall Classic.