HOUSTON (AP) — Houston Astros manager Joe Espada has met with left-handed starter Framber Valdez and catcher César Salazar, who was hit in the chest with a pitch by his teammate during Tuesday's 7-1 loss to the Yankees.
Valdez said he apologized afterward to Salazar and that he didn’t intentionally hit his teammate.
Espada insisted a day later that the situation was “100%” resolved in his mind, and he wanted to “get past this and get back to baseball.”
He met with both players after speaking to the media postgame Tuesday.
“I really wanted to get down to: No. 1, asking him to step off, I wanted to know the thought process, which pitch, who was calling which pitch and what,” Espada said before Wednesday's game. “And, I wanted to hear from both of them at the same time.
“I wanted to have a conversation face to face because I wanted to hear the truth about the whole entire thing that happened in that inning. I have a whole lot of respect for both players, and I truly believe that when we had these conversations, that they are honest. I want them to tell me the truth, and I want them to tell you guys the truth once they talk to the media.”
Valdez gave up a grand slam to Trent Grisham in the fifth inning of the loss to New York. Then on the very next sequence, Valdez hit Salazar in the chest on a 1-0, 92.8-mph sinker to Anthony Volpe.
“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.”
Valdez was then asked directly if he did it on purpose.
“No,” he said. “It was not intentional.”
Valdez and Salazar were talking when reporters entered the clubhouse after the game and Valdez said they had sorted things out.
“We were able to talk through it,” he said. “We spoke after the game … at his locker and everything’s good between us. It’s just stuff that happens in baseball. But yeah, we talked through it and we’re good.”
Salazar was asked about what happened on the pitch where he was hit.
“The stadium was loud,” he said. “I thought I pressed the button, but I pressed the wrong button. I was expecting another pitch, but it wasn’t it.”
Salazar said Valdez didn't hit him on purpose.
“No, me and Framber we actually have a really good relationship,” he said.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB
Houston Astros starting pitcher Framber Valdez leaves the mound after the top of the fifth inning of a baseball game against the New York Yankees in Houston, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The artist formerly and possibly again known as Kanye West reveled in support from one of his musical idols, Lauryn Hill, as he staged a sold-out Southern California concert meant to mark a comeback from years of controversy.
Eleven months after releasing a song titled “Heil Hitler” and just over two months after publishing an apology letter for his antisemitism, Ye let two decades of hits — and 70,000 screaming loyal fans — speak the loudest on Friday night at SoFi Stadium.
"I want to thank y’all for sticking by me all these years. Through the hard times, through the low times," he told the crowd. “I love you for that.”
Hill joined Ye on a stage for the first time ever for an energetic rendition of his 2004 hit “All Falls Down,” which originally sampled her voice. Ye left the stage as she performed “Lost Ones” and “Doo Wop (That Thing)” before rejoining for his 2021 “Doo Wop”-sampling song “Believe What I Say.” They hugged as she exited.
Travis Scott, CeeLo Green and Ye's tween daughter North West also strapped on safety harnesses to join Ye high above the stadium floor atop a striking half-orb stage, which alternately depicted a moon, a rotating Earth and a smoking sphere throughout the two hours-plus livestreamed performance.
A loud singalong of “Heartless” midway through the more than 40-song Good Friday show seemed to boost Ye’s spirits: “That’s what 80,000 people sound like, ladies and gentlemen. … They said I’d never be back in the States. Two sold-out concerts, baby!”
The first SoFi show Wednesday, his first major U.S. performance in nearly five years, turned out to be more of a warm-up as Ye was tentative in his rapping and drew attention to technical mishaps.
Fans at that show said they separated the 48-year-old performer’s personal beliefs and public statements from his music — and were ready to forgive after his January apology letter.
“You gotta back your family no matter what,” said Vince Da Prince, a rapper from Downey, Calif. “He’s a part of our fam since we were little kids.”
Added fan Yovani Contreras: “I don’t really bring into politics or the way someone’s personal opinion are. I’m into the music artistry … Like, I just, to me, Ye is always gonna be Ye. Kanye is always gonna be Kanye.”
Luis Velasquez said he’d been a longtime fan and had been put off by controversies in recent years, but felt the apology was sincere.
“Yeah he did apologize,” he said. “He’s taking the medication I think is what he mentioned. … For me as a fan that’s, like, respect, right? Like I think that’s cool enough to bridge that gap.”
Ye released his latest album, “Bully,” under both the names Ye and Kanye West, at the end of March. He dominated hip-hop and pop charts in the 2000s and early 2010s, winning 24 Grammy Awards despite public outbursts and a polarizing personality. He lost nearly all his major business partnerships and many fans after a string of controversies in the last several years including antisemitic remarks and social media posts.
He closed Friday night's show with his “toast to the douchebags" hit “Runaway,” and walked out of the stadium behind his wife Bianca Censori and two of his children.
FILE - Kanye West, known as Ye, watches the first half of an NBA basketball game between the Washington Wizards and the Los Angeles Lakers, on March 11, 2022, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis, File)
