Houston Astros ace Framber Valdez drilled his 29-year-old catcher, Cesar Salazar, with a 94 mph fastball in the fifth inning of Tuesday's game. Just moments after surrendering a grand slam to New York Yankees slugger Trent Grisham, Valdez darted a fastball, much to the surprise of the catcher, as it stung him before ricocheting off.
At the time, Salazar didn't react much after what appears to be an intentional cross-up. However, it seems the Astros have come up with a cover story, or at least this is what the fans believe. Hours after the incident, Salazar directed the blame towards Yankees fans, saying:
"There was a good amount of Yankees fans, so it was pretty loud after the grand slam. Maybe my pitchcom wasn't in the right spot, so I pressed the wrong button."
Yeaaaaaah after hearing Cesar, I think he’s covering for Framber pic.twitter.com/BTgXHigxk0
— Space City Sports (@LiveSCS) September 3, 2025
Another even funnier thing is that Anthony Volpe let the pitch fly by even though it was at the heart of the plate. It was pretty much the same-looking pitch that went the distance a few moments ago. Valdez was taken out of the game after he completed his five frames for six earned runs. The Yankees won the game 7-1.
Framber Valdez holds true to Astros' potential cover-up story
Salazar has less than 50 games under his belt behind the plate, so the story might be true, and he might have hit the wrong button. However, his instant wide-eyed reaction after being crossed up said something different. Nonetheless, Valdez has backed up the story as well:
"It was not intentional. I called for center. That's the pitch I wanted. There was a lot of noise, and that was the pitch he wanted me to throw."
For all we know, this could be the reason, or the Astros might not want to air their dirty laundry in front of the world.