José Altuve, Astros talk fan interference and their “must-win” game

HOUSTON – As soon as Jose Altuve made contact, he assumed he had just tied the score with his line drive to right field in the first inning Wednesday night at Minute Maid Park. That’s how good the ball felt off the bat of the reigning American League Most Valuable Player with multiple batting titles on his resume.

Altuve’s teammates and most of the orange-clad, sellout crowd assumed the same thing.

Unfortunately for the Astros, umpire Joe West disagreed.

The veteran crew chief ruled fan interference and declared Altuve out. He wiped away a two-run home run with a decision that loomed as big as the state of Texas after the Red Sox won Game 4 of the American League Championship Series by the margin West wiped away.

Red Sox 8, Astros 6.

The two-run difference in Game 4 gave the Red Sox a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven ALCS, pushing Boston within a victory of the World Series.

“It’s tough,” Altuve said. “When I hit the ball I was expecting to tie the game. I thought I did, ran the bases, they called an out.”

The defending World Series champion Astros must now hope to stave off elimination in Game 5 on Thursday night at Minute Maid Park to send the series back to Fenway Park.

Down 2-0, Altuve appeared to have tied it with one swing when he drove Rick Porcello’s 2-1 fastball toward the wall in right field. Red Sox right fielder Mookie Betts attempted to make a leaping grab as the line drive sailed toward the crowd.

Unfortunately for the Astros, they’ll never know if Betts could have made the catch. As the sellout crowd roared while assuming that the score had just been tied, there was a pause on the field because nobody knew if Altuve would have to settle for a double or a home run.

Altuve readily admitted that it never crossed his mind that he would be called out.

“Never,” he said. “When I hit it, like I said, I was expecting that ball to go out. For a moment I saw the ball in the warning track. Then I was, ‘OK, that was a double, take it.’

“Then all of a sudden it wasn’t even a double. It was an out. Two runs, the game ended up by two runs. That made me a little more upset.”

Fan Inter-exuberance

The ball hit off the side of Betts’ closed glove as multiple fans attempted to catch the ball, which fell onto the warning track. Instead of calling a home run or a double, West ruled Altuve out because of the fan interference.

There was enough evidence to merit a review to see if fans had interfered with Betts. After a review, the call was allowed to stand.

“Well, when (Betts) jumped up to reach for the ball, the spectator reached out of the stands and hit him over the playing field and closed his glove,” West said.

When asked if the ball had crossed the railing or if Betts’ glove had crossed the railing, West said no to both questions.

“Here’s the whole play,” West said, “(Altuve) hit the ball to right field, (Betts) jumped up to try to make a catch. The fan interfered with (Betts) over the playing field. That’s why I called spectator interference.”

It’s fair to say the Astros vehemently disagreed with West’s opinion.

“The majority of the feeling in the whole dugout was ‘pissed off,'” Astros outfielder Josh Reddick said. “That’s the bottom line, pissed off. That’s a clear home run and it’s got to be called right.”

“Clearly, we lost by two. Those are two runs that we could have used and we could have needed.”

Altuve, who was 1-for-5 with a run and an RBI, doesn’t blame the fan who interfered.

“What would you do as a fan?” he said. “I would do the same. He’s trying to catch a ball. I don’t have anything against him. He’s another Astros fan who is rooting for us. I appreciate that he was trying to help us.”

On To The Next

Admittedly, the Astros had many chances to overcome the early hole on a night it took four hours, 33 minutes to play nine innings.

After George Springer tied the score with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the third, Altuve hit a double off the left field wall.

Altuve, who has been hobbled by an injured right knee, banged his right knee sliding into the bag. His hustle never wavered even though the knee ailment prompted manager A.J. Hinch to use his All-Star second baseman as the designated hitter in Games 3 and 4.

“Same as yesterday, it is what it is,” Altuve said of his injured knee. “I’m a little upset about that. I want to be on the field and help my team, but that’s another thing that I don’t have control in.”

With men on second and third, Altuve grounded out to short to cut the Astros’ deficit to 8-6 in the eighth inning. The Astros had the potential tying run at second and the go-ahead run at first with the bases loaded in the ninth inning against Red Sox closer Craig Kimbrel.

Left fielder Andrew Benintendi made a brilliant sliding catch on Alex Bregman’s sinking line drive to end the game, though, pushing the defending champs to the brink of elimination.

“Outstanding,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said Benintendi’s catch. “We do feel that we have the best outfield in the big leagues. The effort by Mookie on the ball at the wall, the effort on the Tony Kemp ball down the line and then Beni taking a chance there. Those three guys, when they’re together, they’re pretty special.”

If the Red Sox win the ALCS, Astros fans will always wonder if West bailed the Red Sox outfield out in the first inning.

The Astros fell behind last year in the ALCS against the Yankees, three games to two, before winning the final two games at Minute Maid Park. Now they must win three consecutive elimination games if they hope to return to the Fall Classic.

“Now it’s a must-win,” Altuve said. “I don’t know why, but I feel like we’ve been in this situation before. We came [back] last year from New York down 3-2. It’s different. This is a new year. We all know that, but we have a pretty confident team. I’m not doubting that anybody here is going to show up tomorrow and try to do everything they can to win. That’s the most important thing.”

Featured image: Loren Elliott/MLB Photos via Getty Images