Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve gifted a couple of runs to the Red Sox with an error in the ALCS and MLB Twitter absolutely loved it.
When you’re playing in the ALCS, every moment could mean the difference between winning and losing. Jose Altuve hopes not in his case.
The Astros second baseman blundered in the third inning against the Red Sox when he committed a bad fielding error. The play should have resulted in a double play. Instead, Boston got a run to home plate and managed to an another as the inning went on. They came out ahead 3-1.
Jose Altuve’s error was one of the biggest moments of ALCS Game 1
An error from Altuve allows the Red Sox to take the lead. pic.twitter.com/BiwGffgfVN
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 16, 2021
Altuve definitely wants that one back, especially since he struck out with the bases loaded in the bottom of the second inning. Baseball Twitter let him have it for both moments.
So far, this game hangs on two players:
— Tom Caron (blue checkmark redacted) (@TomCaron) October 16, 2021
1. Kiké: diving catch w/ bases loaded ends inning, hits a HR to lead off next inning.
2. Altuve: strikes out w/ bases loaded, then makes error on what would’ve been an inning-ending double play.
Have a day Altuve!
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) October 16, 2021
I thought Jose Altuve was good?
— Steve Perrault (@Steve_Perrault) October 16, 2021
https://twitter.com/DanClarkSports/status/1449185263247192087
So maddening because defense was supposed to be the big edge for Astros in this matchup, but they have 3 runs if not for Kike’s play… and the Red Sox have 1 if Altuve fields a ball cleanly that was hit right at him. At least a 4 run swing on defense, but not the way you’d think
— Ben DuBose (@BenDuBose) October 16, 2021
The trash can memes were out in force.
Perhaps the Astros can bang the trash can once if the ground ball is hit to Altuve’s left side, twice if to the right?#justprayin
— MLB Jesus (@MLBJesus) October 16, 2021
Jose Altuve needed a trash can for that ground ball
— siraj hashmi (@SirajAHashmi) October 16, 2021
Not everyone was eager to get on Altuve’s back.
I’m not making fun of Jose Altuve, I know what he’s capable of doing. Don’t want that karma on me lol
— Boston Strong (@BostonStrong_34) October 16, 2021
There’s still a long way to go in the ALCS. You never know what’ll happen, so that’s probably the right approach.
Altuve did open the scoring for the Astros in the first inning. He ran in Yordan Alvarez’s sacrifice fly.
The 31-year-old All-Star finished the regular season with 31 home runs while batting .278/.350/.489. He hit .313/.476/.625 in the ALDS against the Chicago White Sox.
All it takes is one moment for him to turn this particular series around, just at it only took one moment for him to draw in the criticism of MLB Twitter.