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Houston Astros starting pitcher Framber Valdez struggled in the team’s 7-1 loss to the New York Yankees Tuesday and appeared to air his frustrations at his own catcher, César Salazar.
The Yankees led 2-0 in the fifth inning with the bases loaded and two outs. Yankees center fielder Trent Grisham was batting and ahead in the count 1-0.
The pitch clock was winding down on Valdez, and Salazar motioned with his hands for Valdez to step off the mound and use a timeout. Valdez ignored Salazar and delivered the pitch barely ahead of the pitch clock expiring.
Grisham swatted Valdez’s 96-mph sinker into the left-field seats for a grand slam to make it a 6-0 game.
In the next at-bat, Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe came up, and Valdez seemed to express his displeasure with Salazar.
Valdez fired a 93-mph sinker right at Salazar’s chest, and the catcher was not prepared for it. He missed the ball, and it hit him in his chest protector. Salazar stared back at Valdez, who turned his back to him and walked back to the mound after the pitch.
Salazar took his mask off and walked a couple of steps toward the pitcher’s mound before he threw the ball back to Valdez.
Former MLB pitcher and Athletics broadcaster Dallas Braden tweeted a video of the incident on X and said it was “100% intentional” and called it “absolute trash behavior.”
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Valdez was asked after the game if it was intentional.
“No,” Valdez said. “It was not intentional.”
The 31-year-old said he and Salazar got crossed up.
“What happened with us, we just got crossed up,” Valdez said in Spanish through a translator. “I called for that pitch, I threw it and we got crossed up. We went down to the dugout, and I excused myself with him. And I said sorry to him, and I take full responsibility for that.”
Salazar said after the game that he, not Valdez, pressed the wrong button, and that it wasn’t on purpose.
“The stadium was loud,” Salazar said. “I thought I pressed the button, but I pressed the wrong button. I was expecting another pitch, but it wasn’t it.
“Me and Framber, we actually have a really good relationship.”
The Astros (76-63) — especially Valdez and Salazar — will look to turn things around when they play the Yankees (77-61) in the second game of their three-game series Wednesday at 8:10 p.m. ET.
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