The Astros split the first two games of their series against the visiting White Sox, but Framber Valdez ($8,900; 35.35 FPTS) was up to the task of helping them claim a win on Sunday afternoon.
His curveball was especially effective as you can see in that highlight, and he finished with nine strikeouts in seven shutout innings. He gave up just three hits and a walk but was still lifted after just 82 pitches.
With such a juicy matchup, Valdez was a very popular play in Sunday afternoon’s DFS contests including in the MLB $300K MEGA 8’S on DraftKings, where he had a 68.5% ownership. He delivered for his many investors by picking up his 13th win of the season. Over his last eight starts, he is 7-0 with a 2.24 ERA and 0.94 WHIP to go with 63 strikeouts in his 52 1/3 innings.
The Astros didn’t get him a ton of run support, with the only runs while he was in the game coming on this blase from Yainer Diaz ($4,600; 17 FPTS):
After Valdez left, Jose Altuve ($5,600; 19 FPTS) also homered, and those two solo shots were the only runs in the game. The White Sox finished with three hits and no hitter had more than 3.0 fantasy points.
The win keeps the Astros four games ahead of the Mariners in the AL West. On DraftKings Sportsbook, the Astros are -550 to win the division and +475 to win the American League. Framber Valdez is a longshot at +12000 to win the AL Cy Young, where Tarik Skubal (-1600) has emerged as the clear front-runner. Framber’s ‘Stros have the fifth-shortest odds of any team to win the World Series at +1000.
All odds provided by DraftKings Sportsbook and all odds subject to change.
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