Baseball fans have heard of “Shoeless” Joe Jackson.
But have you heard of “Shoeless” Jose Altuve?
In the ninth inning of Tuesday’s Astros-Padres game, Altuve appeared to foul a ball off his left foot. However, umpires ruled the ball never hit his foot and Altuve was subsequently thrown out at first base.
Altuve couldn’t believe the call, so he removed his shoe and sock and was suddenly barefoot at home plate, showing the umpire what he claimed was the ball mark on top of his left foot. Altuve was ejected for his actions, but it made for a unique and wild scene in what was pretty much a crazy game.
The Padres and Astros each had costly wild pitches, great defensive plays, clutch hits and plenty of frustration with the umpires. There was also a lot of booing directed at a Houston player in what was a spirited Petco Park crowd.
When Josh Hader pitched for the Padres last season, he refused to enter games in which he was required to get more than three outs. Tuesday night, Hader, now an Astro, came out of the bullpen with two outs in the eighth inning to protect a one-run lead. Padre fans let Hader hear it with a chorus of sustained boos. Hader’s first pitch was a wild pitch that allowed Fernando Tatis Jr. to score the tying run.
In the 10th inning, after Houston scored to take a 4-3 lead, the umpires ruled that Padres outfielder Jurickson Profar was hit by a pitch. Replays seemed to show the ball missed Profar. Profar appeared to be upset that he wouldn’t have the chance to bat and the Astros’ bench couldn’t believe the call.
The hit-by-pitch loaded the bases with two outs and brought Manny Machado to bat. Machado hit what initially appeared to be a walk-off two-run single up the middle, but Astros second baseman Grae Kessinger made a dandy backhanded stop on is knees, then threw to second base for the final out of the game.
As the umpires walked off the field, there was plenty of chirping and chatter directed at them by both teams.
With the loss, the Padres remained 3.5 games behind the National League West leading Los Angeles Dodgers and 2.5 games in front of the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NL wild card race.
