If ever there was a time to roll the dice and use an ABS challenge, this was it. With slugger Yordan Alvarez on deck and the bases loaded with two outs in the fourth inning Tuesday night, Astros second baseman Jose Altuve took a 3-2 pitch from Twins right-hander Joe Ryan that was called a strike, which would have ended the inning. Unlike Christian Walker in a key moment in the ninth inning a day earlier, Altuve didn’t hesitate. He patted his helmet as he took a few hops toward first base to signal he wanted a challenge. A huge cheer erupted at Daikin Park when the scoreboard showed the pitch was 0.6 inches off the plate, resulting in a bases-loaded walk that forced in the Astros’ second run of the game. More importantly, the overturned call meant Alvarez would get to bat with the bases loaded. What happened next was no surprise. Alvarez crushed the second pitch he saw from Ryan and sailed it into the home bullpen in right-center field for a game-changing grand slam -- the seventh of his career, tying the franchise record -- that sent the Astros to a 6-4 win over the Twins. “You’ve got to challenge that one,” Altuve said. “Especially with the bases loaded, two outs, we’re down in the game and Yordan hitting behind you, you have to take a chance. Thank God it was a ball and we created some momentum for Yordan to execute with the big homer.” Astros manager Joe Espada said Altuve’s walk is what swung the game. “He saw seven pitches and you could tell Joe Ryan was getting really tired after that at-bat,” he said. “He used a ton of pitches and Jose really squeezed him, and then Yordan with the big blow. But the Altuve at-bat was the at-bat of the game.”
