Astros: Framber Valdez to take Sanchez’s rotation spot

Framber Valdez will rejoin the Astros rotation while Aaron Sanchez is out.

With Aaron Sanchez on the injured list, lefty Framber Valdez will be called up to take his place in the Astros rotation. Valdez will start Sunday’s series finale against the Angels and next Saturday’s tilt in Toronto. On Sunday, he’ll face Angels hurler Jaime Barria, owner of a 6.35 ERA.

Overall, Valdez is 3-6 with a 5.58 ERA in 50 major league innings this season over five starts and 15 relief appearances. That ERA is largely inflated by his four most recent outings for the Astros in which he allowed 19 earned runs in 11 total innings.

Since being sent back down to Triple-A, Valdez has been striking out batters right and left. He’s posted 40 total strikeouts in his last four starts while going 4-0. Overall, he has a 3.25 ERA at Round Rock this season.

More from Climbing Tal's Hill

• Just how much better is the Houston Astros playoff rotation than the rest?
• Houston Astros: A Lineup Change to Spark Offense
• Astros prospect Hunter Brown throws 6 shutout innings in debut
• Always faithful Astros World Series champion Josh Reddick defends the title
• Michael Conforto declines Astros’ 2-year, $30 million offer

He was solid out of the Astros bullpen the first two months of the season, as he took a 3.12 ERA into his first start on June 8. He made two straight strong starts before the wheels fell off, so we’ll see if he’s worked things out in Round Rock.

Mainly the Astros will be looking for him to provide some innings to help out a bullpen that’s struggled of late. Valdez failed to complete four innings in any of his last three starts in the majors, so he’ll need to fix that going forward. If he can give the team six innings of solid pitching, they will surely take that.

Sanchez’s Timetable Unknown

There’s no official word yet as to how long Sanchez will be out of action. The right-hander was removed from his last start on Tuesday after experiencing decreased velocity. It turns out Sanchez had been battling a strained right pectoral muscle.

Given that Valdez has been named the starter for Sanchez’s next two turns in the rotation, it seems the Astros don’t expect to have Sanchez back for another couple of weeks at least. They have no need to rush him back into action, so they’ll probably give him plenty of time to recover.

As long as they maintain their division lead, they can piece together a fifth starter the rest of the way if need be. They won’t need one once the playoffs start, and Sanchez might not have made the postseason roster anyway.