A saying about baseball is that you see something new every day. On Tuesday, that meant Jose Altuve's foot.
An already dramatic game between the Houston Astros and San Diego Padres entered odd territory in the top of the ninth inning, when the Astros All-Star was at bat with a runner on second, two outs and the score tied 3-3.
Facing Padres reliever Robert Suarez, Altuve hit what appeared to be an inning-ending grounder to third base. Altuve didn't run out the play, however, as he signaled to home plate umpire Brennan Miller that he hit the ball off his foot before it entered the field. If true, it should have been called a foul ball.
Altuve proceeded to argue his case with Miller and was soon joined by Astros manager Joe Espada. Altuve appeared to let his manager take over the argument, but it turned out he was just preparing a, er, visual aid for Miller, in the form of taking both the shoe and sock off his left foot.
That earned him a quick ejection from Miller. Espada was also booted from the game by the bottom of the ninth inning.
Altuve's Frustration
Further replay showed that Altuve was indeed correct, in case you thought he was only pretending to be so mad that he partially disrobed. The ball clearly bounced off the tip of his left shoe before making its way to Padres third baseman Manny Machado.
We've seen some odd ejections this season, most notably when an umpire mistook a fan mouthing off at him for New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone, but this one might take the trophy for the weirdest.
What makes this even wilder is that this is the second time Altuve has been ejected this season for arguing with umpires after they called him out on a grounder that actually hit his foot to end an inning. Nearly the same thing, except for the foot reveal, happened in July.
That might have been why Altuve was especially frustrated Tuesday. Those two incidents represent two of the three ejections in his 14-year career.
A Series of Calls
The game ended up going to extras, where the Astros again found themselves frustrated with the umpires. Houston took a 4-3 lead into the bottom of the 10th, but the Padres got runners on the corners and two outs. Astros reliever Hector Neris threw his first pitch against Jurickson Profar well inside — so much so that it was ruled a hit-by-pitch.
Again, replay showed the umpires were wrong. Again, the Astros just had to deal with it. Their dugout was visibly frustrated when the call on the field was upheld. Even Profar seemed confused as he took his base, which pushed the winning run to second.
The Astros dealt with it by inducing a game-ending groundout from Manny Machado, which might have won the game had it hit Neris' foot.
Altuve's Foot Saved the Day?
Altuve's bizarre ejection may have sparked his team to victory. Despite the questionable call, the Astros were able to pull out a 4-3 win in extra innings. Altuve's replacement, Grae Kessinger, scored the winning run in the 10th inning, and then made a sensational defensive play to end the game. This win, however, was not without some controversy, as the Astros were left scratching their heads at some of the umpires' calls throughout the game.
The umpiring crew has been criticized for their performance in the series so far. The Astros and Padres will play again on Wednesday, and it remains to be seen if the umpiring crew will be able to recover from the criticism they have received. Perhaps the umpires will take a page from Altuve's book and show a little more of their feet if they want to improve their calls.
