HOUSTON -- Astros outfielder Josh Reddick has a knack for drawing catcher’s interference calls and appeared to have a case for one in the fourth inning of Game 1 of the World Series on Tuesday. Reddick clipped the glove of Nationals catcher Kurt Suzuki on a swing, but home-plate umpire Alan Porter didn’t see it and didn’t award Reddick first base.
The at-bat continued and Reddick flied out to center for the second out of the inning. Yordan Alvarez was at first base and went to second when George Springer followed Reddick with a walk. José Altuve ended the inning with a slow grounder to first base.
“I think it should be something that needs to be looked at,” Reddick said. “Yeah, it's very frustrating. Just look back at it and see what kind of things could have happened at that point. It's just one way that the game just hasn't changed yet.”
Reddick has drawn 18 catcher’s interference calls in his career, tied for the third most since 1925, according to Baseball Reference. Only Jacoby Ellsbury (31) and Pete Rose (29) have more. Reddick has two in the postseason, tied with Ellsbury and Tommy La Stella for first all-time. He previously drew one in Game 4 of the 2017 American League Championship Series, and one in Game 4 of the ’16 National League Championship Series when he was with the Dodgers.
Astros manager AJ Hinch came onto the field and asked Porter what he saw, and Porter told him he heard two noises which he believed to be the contact on the ball and the ball hitting Suzuki’s glove. Hinch contended it was the ball hitting the bat and the bat hitting the glove.
Hinch said he told Porter he missed it, but there wasn’t much he could do because the play is not reviewable.
“If you do catcher’s interference, why can’t we do foul tips?” Hinch said. “If we can do foul tips, why can’t we do other contact type plays in front of home plate? I’m not sure if it opens up other plays, but I wish the more obvious ones were always reviewable. Ninety percent of them would be in the gray area where you can’t tell because of the blur of the bat, the unknown of actual contact of a glove, and [the fact that] there’s no audio. That one was probably in the 10 percent that would have been easily overturned.”
Bregman searches for answers
All-Star third baseman Alex Bregman was hard on himself in the moments following the Astros’ Game 1 loss to the Nationals after he finished 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. It was the first time this season he had struck out three times in a game.
Bregman, who had an AL MVP Award-caliber regular season, entered Friday’s Game 2 slashing .231/.412/.385 in 12 playoff games this year with one homer and four RBIs. He’s 3-for-22 with one RBI since the start of the ALCS.
“I've just been horrible mechanically,” Bregman said. “My timing’s been off. Been in between, taking fastballs for strikes, taking sliders for strikes. Taking bad pitches in the zone. Better take my bat home, sleep with it and figure it out.”
Bregman said he needed to get in the video room and the cage and figure it out quickly. He also joked he might need to sleep with his bat by his side for good luck. Hinch said he’s not worried about Bregman’s state of mind.
“I don’t have time to be worried,” Hinch said. “You try to support him. I think he’s tremendously accountable and feels like he should be able to carry a team against the best pitchers. When you look at his résumé, the pitchers he’s homered off of [Blake Snell, Chris Sale, Clayton Kershaw, Kenley Jansen, Corey Kluber and Trevor Bauer in the playoffs], you can put that up against anybody.
“I don’t fault him for his approach. I think mechanically, he’s a little bit off. I think some of that is generated by the pitcher, some of that is generated by the zone, the nature of the sport. It’s not surprising to me he would sleep with his bat or that he would put it all on his shoulders to carry the load.”