Valdez pitches 7 strong innings and Alvarez hits two home runs in Astros’ 5-2 win over Twins

HOUSTON (AP) — Framber Valdez pitched a no-hitter into the seventh inning and Yordan Alvarez hit two of Houston’s four home runs in the Astros’ 5-2 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Saturday.

Valdez (4-3) did not allow a hit until a single to start the seventh. He allowed two hits and one run with four strikeouts in seven innings.

“I felt good from the beginning with my pitches,” Valdez said in Spanish through a translator. “They were doing what I wanted them to do and I was able to throw them for strikes where I wanted them.”

Alvarez hit a two-run homer off Joe Ryan (4-4) in the first and his solo homer off the starter in the fifth inning made the score 5-0. It’s Alvarez’s third multi-homer game of the season and the 18th of his career.

“I felt like the Yordan that people are used to,” Alvarez said in Spanish through a translator.

Struggling first baseman José Abreu hit his first home run and second extra-base hit of the season in the second inning. Kyle Tucker added a home run in the third to give him 19 this season, which ranks second in the majors behind Aaron Judge’s 20.

Houston led 5-2 with one out in the ninth inning when Jake Meyers made a diving catch off the center field wall to rob Byron Buxton of a home run. Closer Josh Hader raised both arms in the air after the catch and Buxton, a fellow center fielder, tilted his helmet toward Meyers.

Hader then struck out Willi Castro for his eighth save.

Valdez cruised through the first six innings. He walked Manuel Margot to start the fourth and dropped Kyle Farmer to lead off the sixth, but faced the minimum thanks to double plays in both innings.

Valdez got help from his defense for the first out of the third. Tucker made a leaping catch just before crashing into the right field wall on a fly ball hit by Farmer.

The Twins got their first hit when Margot singled on a grounder to center field to start the seventh. Margot advanced to second on a one-out wild pitch before scoring on José Miranda’s two-out single that cut the lead to 5-1.

An RBI single by Carlos Correa put the Twins up 5-2 with two outs in the eighth.

“When they keep you like that until the sixth, it takes a lot to come back and win… (but) we kept playing hard,” Minnesota coach Rocco Baldelli said.

Tucker walked in the first before Alvarez’s first homer made it 2-0.

There were two outs in the second when Abreu’s shot pushed the lead to 3-0. Abreu, who is hitting .119, was playing his fourth game in the majors after spending nearly a month in the minors to work on his swing after a terrible start to the season.

“I think it’s very important to understand where I am and where I need to be,” he said in Spanish through a translator. “The results have not been there in these first 3 or 4 games. But believe me, I’m confident that I can get to the point where I can help this team, help this organization win games.”

Tucker’s home run to right-center field came with one out in the third to make the score 4-0. There were two outs in the fifth when Alvarez hit again.

Ryan allowed eight hits, including four home runs and five runs, all season highs, in five innings.

Minnesota RHP Simeon Woods Richardson (2-0, 2.70 ERA), who is from suburban Houston, would face RHP Hunter Brown (1-5, 6.39) when the series concludes Sunday.

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