Jose Altuve of the Astros is removed from the game after a disagreement with the umpires.

Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros was ejected from the game following a disagreement with the umpires.

Jose Altuve Ejected After Heated Reaction to Umpire’s Ruling During Astros-Mets Game

After being declared out on a play that happened in the top of the seventh inning of Sunday’s game against the New York Mets, which resulted to his dismissal from the game, Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve became enraged with the umpiring crew.

Pitcher Luis Severino of the Mets hit a 96-mph sinker off Altuve’s foot with two outs in the inning and runners on second and third. Altuve was facing a 1-1 count. However, the umpiring panel convened and, following considerable consideration, decided to call the ball live, thus outing Altuve.

The third base umpire, Alan Porter, swiftly ejected the Astros star from the game when he slammed his helmet and bat on the ground out of sheer rage.
Replays appeared to show Altuve’s cleat making contact with the ball, followed by his painful grimace. But that was not how the umpiring staff saw it, and they most definitely didn’t like Altuve’s response.
After the game, it will be fascinating to see what, if anything, is mentioned in the pool report. The game is currently tied 4–4 with a rain delay in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Part II of The Biggest Letdowns and Nice Surprises of the 2024 Astros Season
Let’s examine the positive surprises that have sustained Astros’ optimism today.
The series consists of two parts, this being the second. Today, we talk about the biggest and finest unexpected moments from the 2024 Astros season thus far.

We spoke about the biggest letdowns of the Astros’ 2024 season’s first half in Part I of this article. Naturally, the entire month of April was the biggest letdown. After 27 games, the Astros had a 7-20 record. The Astros were 18-14 from April 27 to May 31. As of this writing in June, they are 16-8. Regretfully, a season can be ruined by a single poor month, as the Astros’ opening month.

The Astros’ team ERA in the first month was 5.01, which ranked 26th in MLB. The failure was split equally between starters and relievers. The bullpen had an ERA of 4.90 and the starters 5.10.

The April hitting was better, even pretty good from one perspective, with a wRC+ of 115, 5th in MLB. But in the all-important category of run production, the Stros were only 16th. In May Astros’ run production improved to 11th, and in June it is 8th but in fewer games than all but one of the teams ahead of them.

Meanwhile, team ERA has gone down each month. In June it is 3.45, fifth in MLB tied with Seattle. In May it was 3.62, ninth in MLB. So, since April, the Astros have been in the upper tier in both batting and pitching throughout MLB.

In today’s installment, we will examine the surprises of 2024. On the pitching side, we can count young starters Hunter Brown and Spencer Arreghetti as both disappointments and pleasant surprises. In the first quarter of this season, both were a big reason for the failure of the starting pitcher corp. But since about mid-May, they have led the staff’s resurgence.

On May 17, Hunter Brown’s ERA was 7.71. Since then it is 1.47. On May 25th, Spencer Arrighetti’s ERA was 6.93, Since then it is 3.95, including one huge meltdown but also a recent seven-inning, 10-K shutout.

The Astros need these two to continue on their current trajectories if the team hopes to challenge for a playoff position. The Astros’ hopes are slim and none if both of these pitchers regress.