After winning Game 1 of the ALCS against the division-rival Houston Astros, the Texas Rangers needed to set the tone in Game 2. They more than accomplished that in the first inning with four runs on five hits against Framber Valdez.
However, it could've been more if not for what felt like a bit of home-cooking from the umpires in Houston.
With no outs and two runners on, Rangers catcher Jonah Heim was at the dish in an 0-2 count. Valdez then threw a changeup at the bottom of the zone that he got a piece of. That, however, is when the home plate umpire ruled that Astros catcher Martin Maldonado caught the foul tip, making Heim out with the strike-3 rule for foul tips.
But you can clearly see that Maldonado wasn't even close to making the catch above the dirt.
Texas Rangers screwed on foul-tip strikeout call in ALCS Game 2
The Rangers did add one more run in the inning as Nathaniel Lowe, the next batter, knocked an RBI single. However, the inning could've been even bigger if not for the umpires awful call.
And if that weren't enough, that call is not reviewable, for whatever reason. That only makes the feeling worse if you're a fan in Arlington. Frankly, it also might be looking into changing this offseason as that seems like the exact spirit of why replay review is around -- to get easily discernible calls on replay right.
Regardless, the Astros found themselves in an early hole, even with help from the umps in the first inning. The Rangers bats came out red-hot after winning Game 1 and threatened to completely negate Houston's home-field advantage with the way they got things started in Game 2.
Let's just hope this missed call doesn't come back to overshadow this game. That would be the most unfortunate outcome of all.
