Valdez went 1-for-2 with a solo home run in the win Wednesday against the White Sox.
The rookie outfielder got the start in right field but got pulled for pinch runner Billy Cook in the seventh. Valdez kicked off the scoring with a long ball off Davis Martin in the fifth to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead that they never looked back on. The 22-year-old has not hit well in his last 30 games, batting .178 with three homers and 11 RBI and a 40 percent strikeout rate in 101 at-bats, though he still has an .865 OPS for the season thanks to his power binge earlier in the summer.