Jose Altuve was sure he’d hit a tying home run for the Houston Astros in Game 4 of the AL Championship Series. Then, he saw the signal: he was out.
Altuve’s potential homer was wiped away when umpire Joe West ruled that fans reaching for the ball interfered with Boston right fielder Mookie Betts’s attempt to make a leaping catch. Now Houston’s chances to repeat as World Series champions are nearly out of reach after an 8-6 loss on Wednesday night that put the Red Sox ahead 3-1 in the best-of-seven matchup. In the National League Championship Series, the Los Angeles Dodgers lead the Milwaukee Brewers 3-2 after beating them 5-2 in Game 5.
However, the game didn’t just hinge on that call. Andrew Benintendi made a diving play in left field with the bases loaded for the final out, as Boston held on.
“I thought I could catch it and timed it up well,” Benintendi said. “At that point, it was either do or die.” “I normally don’t get mad at the umpire’s call. That one, I was a little upset,” Altuve said. “All of a sudden, it wasn’t even a double, it was an out. Two runs the game ended up … that make me a little bit more upset.”
Denied Altuve’s two-run drive in the first inning, the Astros wound up falling two runs short. “That’s just a tough call right now,” said Houston’s George Springer, who later homered over that same wall. “I understand it’s not easy to make that call. You would like to see a two-run homer be a two-run homer, especially to tie the game.”
Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93)
That would have been an INSANE catch from Mookie Betts. pic.twitter.com/3EdbzyBJb2
West signaled fan interference after Betts was unable to make a jumping grab. Fans made contact with Betts’s glove, though it wasn’t clear if they had reached over the fence. The call stood after a replay review that lasted more than three minutes. West said after the game that the ball had not crossed the top of the wall when “the spectator reached out of the stands and hit him over the playing field and closed his glove.”
Betts, one of the best defenders in the majors, said he had it all the way. “That was a ball I could catch. I’m 100% positive I was going to be able to catch that one,” he said.
“I jumped and went over, reached my hand up, I felt like somebody was kind of pushing my glove out of the way or something,” Betts said.
A fan who identified himself as Troy Caldwell, insisted he wasn’t reaching out over the fence when the ball hit his hand. “That ball was gone no matter what,” said Caldwell, a lifelong Astros fan.
ANDREW BENINTENDI HAS THE RED SOX ONE WIN AWAY FROM THE WORLD SERIES #SCtop10 pic.twitter.com/jiroz0r794
Caldwell said he immediately started getting texts that he had cost Altuve and the Astros a home run. Altuve said he had nothing against Caldwell, and would do the same thing as a fan and try to catch a ball. “As long as the Astros come back and win this we’ll be all right,” Caldwell said. They didn’t, and now are facing elimination.