SAN DIEGO — Moments after Jose Altuve was ejected for taking off his left cleat and sock to attempt to show a degree, his substitute, Grae Kessinger, scored the go-ahead run in the tenth inning and then made a sensational play at second base to seal the Houston Astros' wild 4-3 win in opposition to the San Diego Padres on Tuesday night time.
Altuve grounded out to 3rd for the ultimate out of the ninth however insisted he had fouled the ball off his foot. In a loopy scene, he took off his cleat and sock, attempting to indicate the umpires the place the ball hit, which received him ejected by plate umpire Brennan Miller. Manager Joe Espada was tossed after persevering with to argue.
“Sometimes you get hit somewhere in the hand and you take your batting glove [off] to show you got hit. I was expecting to do the same thing,” Altuve mentioned.
“It was going through my head that it can't happen,” he added. “It's the ninth inning, winning run on second base, I'm battling against a good pitcher, [Robert] Suarez, the closer, so I'm obviously trying to get a hit and drive the run in and win the game. I get a foul ball because it hit my foot and they just took it away from me. I don't think that can happen. There are four guys on the field and you can see the change of direction on the ball. Just make the right call.”
Espada was nonetheless wound up afterward.
“It's a foul ball,” the supervisor mentioned. “You have to see the ball once he hits the foot, the flight of the ball. I don't get it. I don't understand. That's twice this year. I have a lot of respect for the umpires. They work hard. But there are four out there. You have to be able to see it. They missed that call.”
It was Altuve's third profession ejection, together with common season and playoffs, and second this season (June 30 vs. Mets). His first profession ejection was Aug. 6, 2016, which got here in opposition to the Rangers.
Kessinger began the tenth as the automated runner in place of Altuve, superior 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 tenth earlier than getting Manny Machado to floor right into a drive play on a terrific backhanded cease by Kessinger, who flipped the ball to shortstop Jeremy Pena to finish it.
It was Kessinger's first recreation 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 hit off the mound, and that's exactly what happened. But go catch it. That's the job,” Kessinger mentioned.
He figured he was going to get into the sport after Altuve was tossed.
“It's a foul ball. You have to see the ball once he hits the foot, the flight of the ball. I don't get it. I don't understand. That's twice this year. I have a lot of respect for the umpires. They work hard. But there are four out there. You have to be able to see it. They missed that call.”
Astros supervisor Joe Espada
“As he started to untie his shoe, I started to grab my glove. I didn't know if I was the one that was going to be going in, but I didn't know what he was doing, but I was just getting ready,” Kessinger mentioned.
The Padres twice rallied to tie the rating, first at 2-2 on Machado's twenty seventh homer with one out in the sixth — Machado admired his 405-foot homer for a number of seconds, tossed his bat apart and gestured towards the Padres' dugout as he started his trot — and at 3-3 in the eighth when Fernando Tatis Jr. scored on Josh Hader's two-out wild pitch.
Hader got here on to boos and was referred to as for a pitch clock violation. But after a prolonged delay, it was introduced there was no violation. Hader then threw a wild pitch that introduced in Tatis.
Hader was with the Padres from the 2022 commerce deadline by way of final yr earlier than leaving as a free agent. He drew the ire of San Diego followers when he mentioned late final season he was reluctant to get greater than three outs.
The Padres failed so as to add to their wild-card lead over Arizona and remained 3½ video games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West.
ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
