Valdez loses no-no with 2 outs in 9th on Seager HR

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Houston pitcher Framber Valdez lost a no-hitter with two outs in the ninth inning when Texas slugger Corey Seager hit a two-run homer in the Astros' 4-2 victory over the Rangers on Tuesday night.

Valdez was on the verge of his second no-hitter in just more than a year when Seager sent the first pitch he saw in the ninth, an 85 mph slider, into the stands in right field. It was Seager's fifth homer in five games.

The 30-year-old left-hander cruised through eight innings but finally began to stumble in the ninth, walking Robbie Grossman before Ezequiel Duran grounded into the second Texas double play of the game.

Josh Smith kept the Rangers alive with another walk, setting up Seager's 24th homer.

Seager has now broken up two no-hitters with two outs in the ninth; on Aug. 25, 2016, he hit a single for the Dodgers on his bobblehead night against San Francisco's Matt Moore to end his no-hit bid.

Valdez was immediately replaced by closer Josh Hader, who walked Marcus Semien before Josh Jung flied out to the base of the wall in right field to end the game.

Yordan Alvarez hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning that ended up being the difference. Jake Meyers' drove in the first two Houston runs with a pair of RBI singles.

Valdez had a perfect game through five innings, but still faced the minimum of 18 batters through six.

The perfect game ended when Jonah Heim opened the sixth by reaching on third baseman Alex Bregman's throwing error. Grossman then grounded into a double play before Duran was called out on strikes.

Bregman's error came when he fielded a high chopper on the run and threw low to first baseman Jon Singleton, who couldn't make the scoop to keep the perfect game intact.

Semien walked with two outs in the seventh to finally get a fourth batter to the plate in an inning for Texas, but Jung struck out on three pitches. It was Valdez's fifth strikeout.

Valdez cruised through the eighth with routine flyouts from Wyatt Langford, Adolis Garcia and Heim.

Valdez's other no-hitter was a 2-0 victory over Cleveland on Aug. 1, 2023.

The two-time All-Star topped out at 96.9 mph on his fastball, but created plenty of soft contact with plenty of off-speed pitches.

Seager had one of the other hardest-hit outs, flying out to left fielder Alvarez on the warning track for the second out of the fourth inning.

Valdez entered the game 5-0 in his previous seven starts, all Houston victories. He was scratched from his other scheduled start against Texas this season after losing to the World Series champions twice in the AL Championship Series last fall.

Valdez is the fourth pitcher in the last five seasons to come up one out short of a no-hitter, and the first individual pitcher to lose a no-hitter by giving up a homer with two outs in the ninth since Roy Halladay on Sept 27, 1998, in what was his second career MLB start.

ESPN Stats & Information and The Associated Press contributed to this report.