LOS ANGELES -- Astros manager Joe Espada visited the Dodger Stadium mound with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning on Saturday. His starter, Framber Valdez, had just walked Miguel Rojas with Shohei Ohtani due up, representing the go-ahead run for the Dodgers. Valdez, who had already given up four runs on the day, was at 101 pitches.

But Espada stuck with his guy.

“My best against their best,” Espada said. “My left-handed ace against probably the best left-handed hitter in the game. That’s the game, and I’m gonna let my horse get after it.”

The decision paid off, as Valdez drew a ground ball from Ohtani on a first-pitch sinker that rolled right into the glove of Jose Altuve, who tossed the inning-ending forceout to Zack Short at second base.

Despite the Dodgers capitalizing on his early mistakes, Valdez finished his outing with just those four earned runs on seven hits with two walks and seven strikeouts over six innings pitched -- and most importantly, the lead.

Espada ended up making another key decision in the Astros’ 6-4 win over the Dodgers. With two outs and Dodgers runners on first and second in the bottom of the eighth -- and Ohtani on deck -- Espada turned to his closer Josh Hader, asking him to pull off a four-out save.

https://www.mlb.com/astros/news/astros-win-series-vs-dodgers-at-dodger-stadium