Guardians' besting longtime villain in Framber Valdez is testament to 2026 offense

On Monday night, the Cleveland Guardians’ offense continued its hot stretch with a huge 8-2 win over the Detroit Tigers. José Ramírez hit another home run, Brayan Rocchio added a triple and Angel Martínez had a productive day atop the lineup. 

But perhaps the most encouraging thing about that offensive explosion is that it came against Tigers starter Framber Valdez, who has forever been a thorn in the Guardians’ side. 

A little less than three years ago, Valdez threw a no-hitter against a Guardians team that was sleepwalking after the front office traded Aaron Civale and Josh Bell at the trade deadline. 

But now the Guardians turned in a fantastic performance against Valdez in a win that officially announced their presence in the American League Central . 

The Guardians finally bested Framber Valdez

After failing to score in the first two innings, the Guardians jumped all over Valdez in the third inning with two runs thanks to a triple from Brayan Rocchio and an RBI double from Rhys Hoskins. 

They added on two more runs against Valdez in the fifth inning thanks to Rocchio leading the inning off with a walk out of the No. 9 spot in the lineup followed by a single from Martínez in the leadoff spot. They both came around to score later in the inning. 

It’s the exact kind of scenario the Guardians envisioned when they shifted Steven Kwan out of the leadoff spot. Rocchio’s been the most productive No. 9 hitter in baseball, so batting him behind Martínez essentially gives the Guardians two leadoff hitters. 

But that theme took a backseat to the Guardians’ dominance of Valdez, who now has a 4.58 through 10 starts this season and has looked nowhere near the pitcher he was during his heyday with the Houston Astros. 

As mentioned above, Valdez was an absolute menace to the Guardians during his time with the Astros, as he had a 2.30 ERA in 31 1/3 innings against Cleveland during his eight-year stint in Houston. 

That track record made his three-year, $115 million contract with the Tigers look like a steal (along with being a nightmare for the Guardians). But he’s now allowed 3+ earned runs in three of his starts while also being suspended for five games for intentionally throwing at Boston’s Trevor Story. 

Valdez only managed to throw 52 of his 89 pitches for strikes and allowed nine baserunners with just three strikeouts. 

Coming into the season, Valdez and Skubal looked like one of the best 1-2 punches in all of baseball. But now Valdez has looked like one of the worst pitchers in baseball and Skubal just went under the knife due to loose bodies in his elbow. 

There’s still a long way to go until we get to October, but the Guardians wasted no time asserting their dominance over Valdez in their first start against him this season.

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