Jordan Diaz had anything but a soft landing into his MLB debut. Astros starter Framber Valdez was steamrolling the A’s and struck out the rookie twice with a biting curveball in Oakland’s 11-2 loss on Sunday in Houston.
Valdez is putting together a season that has him square in the American League Cy Young conversation. His dominance made for a rude introduction for Diaz, who earned a call-up on Sunday after hitting .326 with a .881 OPS with Triple-A Las Vegas.
But with Valdez out for reliever Phil Maton in the seventh inning, Diaz found some light with his first major league hit: An inside-out single into shallow center field.
