Off by an inch, Astros' Alvarez deked into a costly out at second

HOUSTON -- For some reason, the Blue Jays decided to pitch to Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez to lead off the bottom of the 10th inning Wednesday representing the tying run with first base open. He ripped a screaming RBI single into the right-field corner, but was thrown out at second base trying to stretch a single into a double.

Alvarez stepped just short of second base as the throw came in from right field and was tagged out by Blue Jays shortstop Andrés Giménez, who deked Alvarez into thinking the throw wasn’t coming so quickly. The Astros challenged the call and lost, with the replays shown on the video scoreboard at Daikin Park showing Alvarez as perhaps touching the base with the tip of his cleat when he was tagged.

Alvarez later admitted he was out.

Still, Astros manager Joe Espada ran out to protest to first-base umpire Doug Eddings, who ejected Espada -- his first ejection of 2026. Three pitches later, the game was over and the Blue Jays handed the Astros a 5-4 loss that was only their third loss in their past 15 games.

“Honestly, I think I missed the base,” Alvarez said.

Credit to second base umpire Emil Jimenez for seeing it in real time and calling Alvarez out immediately. And credit to Giménez for dekeing Alvarez. Giménez snagged the throw from right fielder Nathan Lukes and tagged Alvarez on the rear as his left foot fell short of the bag.

“His foot was on the bag and I don’t know if he called him out because his foot came off or not, but it looked to me like he beat the play,” Espada said. “They make the call in New York and that’s the ruling and I disagree with it.”

Blue Jays manager John Schneider said there were discussions about walking Alvarez, who is the front-runner for American League Most Valuable Player.

“You're sitting there with a Hall of Famer on deck, swinging the bat well,” Schneider said. “So, really, really good play from Lukes to get it in, and it was kind of a no way moment, you know, with Gimé, he deked him there. Kind of caught a break, but that's extra innings, you got to catch a break. But great throw, great tag.”

Alvarez would have probably been safe had he slid into second base after driving in automatic runner Jeremy Peña with a laser that was 114.8 mph off the bat.

“Players tend to do those types of tricks,” Alvarez said. “What really happened was I was trying to get as fast as I could to get to the base and when I lifted my head up to see in front of me [he was at the base].”

Instead of Alvarez standing on second as the tying run with no outs, the Astros had no runners on base with one out. Jose Altuve flied out two pitches later and Daulton Varsho flied out on the next pitch from Chase Lee to end the game.

It was the Astros’ first series loss -- they dropped two of three to Toronto -- since they were swept by the Orioles out of the All-Star break. Houston is 59-57 heading into a West Coast road trip to San Diego and San Francisco and holds a perilous 1 1/2-game lead over the Rangers atop the AL West.

In addition to the Alvarez play, this was a game the Astros squandered other chances. They loaded the bases with one out in the first inning against Jameson Taillon and couldn’t score and had runners at second and third with no outs in the sixth and couldn’t score. Houston was 3-for-9 with runners in scoring position.

“For the most part, our at-bats were good,” Espada said. “We put some pressure on those guys, but they deployed the back end of the bullpen, and it’s pretty good.”

Ernie Clement blasted a two-run home run on the first pitch thrown by reliever Bennett Sousa in the top of the 10th to put the Blue Jays up, 5-3, after they trailed, 3-0, through five innings. Astros starter Hunter Brown carried a no-hitter into the sixth before giving up three runs, including a two-run homer by Jesús Sánchez on a 3-0 fastball to tie the game.

“A lot of guys swing 3-0 on me,” Brown said. “He jumped it and hit it out of the ballpark. I don’t know if you want to say surprise, but tip your hat to him.”