Houston Astros Put Through Ridiculous Ringer with Home Run Call

Kyle Tucker collected his fifth triple of the season in the fifth inning of Sunday's 8-1 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. The official scoring was later changed twice.

Jack Vita | Oct 1, 2023

Houston Astros Put Through Ridiculous Ringer with Home Run Call /

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Houston Astros

Houston Astros right fielder Kyle Tucker collected his fifth triple of the season in the fifth inning of Sunday's game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, or so he thought.

Tucker blasted a line drive over the head of Diamondbacks right fielder Jake McCarthy, then proceeded to round the bases for a little league home run. The official scorer ruled the play a triple with an error.

Less than an hour later, after consulting with Elias, the ruling was reversed, making the play a home run. This gave Tucker his 30th home run of the season and his first 30-30 season of his Major League career. But the indecisiveness did not end there.

20 minutes later, upon further review with Elias, the play was returned to a triple, the third different ruling of Tucker's hit.

The Astros would go on to win 8-1, clinching their third-straight American League West division title. Their victory Sunday paired with the Texas Rangers' 1-0 loss to the Seattle Mariners tied Houston and Texas for the division lead, with matching 90-72 records. Since Houston won nine of the 13 games played between the two clubs in 2023, the Astros own the head-to-head tiebreaker, and therefore, are AL West champions for the sixth time in seven years. Houston has not missed the postseason since 2016.

The Astros will receive a first round bye in the playoffs and enjoy nearly a week off, before beginning the American League Division Series Saturday. They will play either the Minnesota Twins or the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Rangers will travel to Tampa Bay for a best-of-three series with the Rays. The winner will advance to play the Baltimore Orioles.

The National League and American League Wild Card Series will begin on Tuesday and end on Thursday, with all of the round's games airing on ESPN.

Published Oct 1, 2023

JACK VITA

Jack Vita is a writer and contributor to Sports Illustrated's Inside the Astros, and host of the Jack Vita Show, a popular sports podcast available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and wherever podcasts are found. Jack is a 2017 graduate of Valparaiso University, in northwest Indiana. Since completing his degree, Jack has created his own independent sports media outlet (JackVita.com) and podcast (the Jack Vita Show). He has featured prominent guests from the worlds of sports and entertainment including Brian Urlacher, Scot Pollard, Bob Nightengale, Dan O'Dowd, and Survivor icons Stephenie LaGrossa Kendrick, Cirie Fields, Danni Boatwright and "the Dragon Slayer", Coach Benjamin Wade. While studying at Valparaiso, Jack was the school newspaper's beat writer for the Valpo Crusaders men's basketball team, which won three straight Horizon League championships from 2015-2017. Traveling to cover the team, Jack had a front row seat to one of the nation's best mid-major teams, headlined by future NBA Draft pick Alec Peters and coached by NCAA Tournament hero Bryce Drew. Jack hosted a weekly sports radio show and provided play-by-play and color commentary services for ESPN 3 and the university's student radio station, WVUR-FM, 95.1 The Source, covering Valparaiso men's soccer, women's basketball, softball and volleyball. Jack also covered these sports, in addition to men's and women's tennis, baseball and women's soccer for the school newspaper, The Torch. While he was in college, Jack interned for and co-hosted Jewell On Sports, a sports radio program on AM 1050 WLIP in Kenosha, Wisconsin. There, he interviewed various pro athletes such as Ahman Green, Javon Walker and Javier Arenas, in addition to talking sports with the late, great Brad Jewell. Jack also interned for 22nd Century Media, a now defunct newspaper corporation that provided news to the North Shore of Chicago. With 22nd Century Media, Jack wrote post-game recaps, feature stories about local athletes, reviews of local restaurants and compiled the newspaper's "Pet of the Week" and "Athlete of the Week" sections, while providing copy-editing services. Before attending Valparaiso, Jack enrolled at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where he studied for two years before transferring. He is a high school graduate of New Trier Township High School in Winnetka, Illinois. You can follow Jack on Twitter @JackVitaShow, subscribe to his podcast, the Jack Vita Show, wherever podcasts are found, and reach him via email at jack@jackvita.com.