The Houston Astros and New York Yankees have a huge rubber match on Thursday night at Daikin Park. Houston took Game 2 after an umpire controversy and a brutal Devin Williams outing. The takeaway from Game 1 was not Trent Grisham's grand slam, but a viral cross-up between Astros pitcher Framber Valdez and catcher Cesar Salazar. Valdez's agent, Ulises Cabrera, spoke with the Houston Chronicle about the controversy.
“I think the issue here is you’re talking about Framber Valdez, who’s the four-time Opening Day starter for the organization that’s taken the ball pretty much every single time since 2020, he’s pitched the most innings, he’s won the most games, he gives the team the most amount of quality starts,” Cabrera told Matt Kawahara. “There’s no questioning what Framber is and what he represents to the team and his thought process on the team.”
“The idea that he’s intentionally trying to injure one of his teammates is preposterous. It’s a complete lack of respect for who he is as a person and who he is as a player. And his body of work demonstrates that. Anything to the contrary is just completely misguided, and it’s not right,” Cabrera continued.
Valdez has said the cross-up was an accident, and he did not purposely hit Salazar with the pitch. The Astros lost the game, partly because of Grisham's grand slam. After the 2025 season. Valdez will be a free agent. That is a big reason why his agent is coming out and putting on damage control.
The Astros' offense came back and dominated the Yankees' bullpen on Wednesday to tie the series. Both teams could use the series win to try and kickstart a blistering hot September. Carlos Rodon will pitch against Cristian Javier in a matchup of solid number two starters for the American League contenders.
