Jose Altuve ejected after removing cleat and sock in wild Astros victory
SAN DIEGO — Shortly after Jose Altuve was ejected for removing his left cleat and sock to make a point, his replacement, Grae Kessinger, scored the go-ahead run in the 10th inning and made a spectacular play at second base to secure the Houston Astros’ dramatic 4-3 victory over the San Diego Padres on Tuesday night.
Altuve had grounded out to third for the final out of the ninth inning but argued that he had fouled the ball off his foot. In a bizarre moment, he removed his cleat and sock to show the umpires where the ball had struck him, which led to his ejection by plate umpire Brennan Miller. Manager Joe Espada was also ejected after continuing the argument.
“Sometimes you get hit on the hand, and you take off your batting glove to show it. I thought I could do the same,” Altuve said.
“I was thinking, ‘This can’t happen.’ It’s the ninth inning, with the winning run on second base, and I’m battling a tough closer, [Robert] Suarez, trying to drive in the run. I foul the ball off my foot, and they took that chance away from me. That shouldn’t happen. There are four umpires on the field, and you can see the ball change direction. Just make the right call.”
Espada was still frustrated afterward.
“It was a foul ball,” the manager said. “You have to see how the ball reacts after it hits the foot. I don’t get it. I don’t understand. This has happened twice this year. I have a lot of respect for the umpires—they work hard—but there are four of them out there. You’ve got to be able to see that. They missed the call.”
This marked Altuve’s third career ejection, including regular season and playoffs, and his second this year (June 30 vs. Mets). His first ejection came on August 6, 2016, against the Rangers.
Kessinger entered the 10th inning as the automatic runner in Altuve’s place, advanced on Yordan Alvarez’s groundout, and scored on Kyle Tucker’s single to left off Adrian Morejon (2-2).
Astros reliever Hector Neris loaded the bases with two outs in the 10th but got Manny Machado to ground into a force out thanks to Kessinger’s outstanding backhand stop. He flipped the ball to shortstop Jeremy Pena to seal the win.
It was Kessinger’s first game with the Astros since July 13.
“Right before he hit it, I was thinking he’s going to hit a ball up the middle, and it’s going to bounce off the mound—and that’s exactly what happened. But my job is to catch it,” Kessinger said.
He had a feeling he’d enter the game after Altuve’s ejection.
“It was a foul ball. You’ve got to watch how the ball reacts after it hits his foot. I don’t get it, I don’t understand. This is the second time it’s happened this year. I have a lot of respect for the umpires—they work hard—but with four of them on the field, someone has to see it. They missed that call.”
“As soon as he started untying his shoe, I grabbed my glove,” Kessinger said. “I wasn’t sure if I was going in, but I didn’t know what he was doing, so I just got ready.”
The Padres rallied to tie the game twice—first at 2-2 when Manny Machado hit his 27th home run in the sixth inning. Machado admired his 405-foot homer for several seconds, tossed his bat, and gestured toward the Padres’ dugout as he began his trot. They tied the game again at 3-3 in the eighth when Fernando Tatis Jr. scored on a wild pitch from Josh Hader with two outs.
Hader, who entered the game to boos, was initially called for a pitch clock violation. After a long delay, it was announced there was no violation. Hader then threw a wild pitch that allowed Tatis to score.
Hader, who joined the Padres at the 2022 trade deadline and left as a free agent after last season, angered Padres fans late last year when he expressed reluctance to pitch more than three outs.
The Padres couldn’t extend their wild-card lead over Arizona and remained 3½ games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West.
