Astros run through Stone, Valdez silences Dodgers

The Dodgers' offense was lackluster as left-hander Framber Valdez struck out 10 batters, leading the Houston Astros to a 5-0 victory on Friday night at Minute Maid Park.

Valdez (9-5) pitched 6 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing four hits and two walks on 96 pitches. His pitch selection, including the sinker, curveball and fastball, kept the Dodgers off balance.

The Dodgers received news on Friday, just hours before the game, that Freddie Freeman would be returning to Los Angeles to be with his family. With Freeman absent from the lineup, Cavan Biggio started at first base. However, Biggio went 0 for 3 and lowered his batting average to .195.

Minute Maid Park has many memories for Biggio, as his father, Craig Biggio, built his Hall of Fame career there. Biggio was an Astros bat boy when his father reached his 3,000th career hit.

Joey Loperfido singled to left field, bringing in the Astros' first run of the game. Then, in the third inning, Alex Bregman hit his 13th home run over the left field wall.

Despite a promising sixth inning when the Dodgers loaded the bases, their hopes of scoring were dashed by Valdez's back-to-back strikeouts on Teoscar Hernandez and Andy Pages. This was not the only instance where the Dodgers failed to capitalize on scoring opportunities, going 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position and leaving seven runners on base.

Miguel Vargas led off the seventh with an infield hit, followed by Kike Hernandez' single to left. Gavin Lux grounded out to the shortstop and was clearly safe at first, but when Hernandez rounded second base, he slipped and was tagged out for the third out of the inning. 

Vargas was a step away from stepping on home plate to score the Dodgers first win of the game but Hernandez was clearly tagged prior to the score.

The top of the Dodgers' lineup went 2 for 14 with both hits coming from Shohei Ohtani. It marked the first time the Dodgers were shut out since June 4.

On the other hand, the Astros' offense hit multiple home runs off Gavin Stone for the first time this season. Stone (9-4) pitched six innings, allowing nine hits amd four runs and striking out three batters on 99 pitches.

The series continues at 4:10 p.m. Saturday when the Dodgers face right-hander Ronel Blanco (9-5, 2.75 ERA) in his 20th start of the season. For the fourth time this season, the Dodgers will start rookie left-hander Justin Wrobleski (0-1, 4.40 ERA).