Framber Valdez has made a special request for his last couple of starts on the road. The Astros’ starter has asked to wear Houston’s navy blue alternate jerseys, which the team usually wears only on Sundays at home—a particular scenario that’d fallen on only one of Valdez’s start days this season. Manager Dusty Baker pulled some strings, however, and Houston was allowed to don them for Valdez’s Aug. 30 outing at Texas and his start at Detroit on Monday.
“I don’t know why, but they feel lighter to me,” Valdez told reporters after Monday’s outing, which made clear that if Valdez wants neon-pink jerseys, the team should do whatever it can to satisfy his preference. Because against the Tigers, Valdez twirled the first shutout of his career in an utter dismantling of the team led by his former manager, making him just the 12th pitcher this season to throw nine scoreless (no one has done it more than once).
Then again, maybe it doesn’t really matter what Valdez is wearing. Because no matter the uniform this year, he’s been great. Monday’s start marked Valdez’s 24th consecutive quality start, the record for a left-handed pitcher, tied for the MLB record in a single season and the third-longest streak overall. The 28-year-old southpaw needs two more to tie Jacob deGrom (2018–19) and Bob Gibson (1967–68) for the longest all-time streak.
