Astros hear lots of boos on the road
Jose Altuve insisted he tuned out the hecklers. He couldn’t avoid a pitch that grazed him.
“He was hit in the foot. That ain’t nothing, you know what I mean?” Astros manager Dusty Baker said Monday after an 11-1 win over the Tigers at half-empty Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland, Fla. “It wasn’t intentional.”
Altuve was loudly booed when he was introduced for his spring training debut, cheered when he struck out and called a cheater by several fans. Quite a difference from past years, when the diminutive All-Star second baseman was among the most popular players in the majors.
But that was before Altuve and his Astros teammates were implicated in the sign-stealing scandal.
“We just heard a lot of noise, and that’s it,” Altuve said.
Altuve and fellow starters Alex Bregman, Carlos Correa and Yuli Gurriel all played for the first time in the exhibition season. After the Astros opened the Grapefruit League in the stadium it shares with the World Series champion Nationals, this was the first time the Astros were away from their complex — providing a taste of the reaction they might receive on the road this year.
“We were focused on playing baseball,” Altuve said.
The reception during the visit to Tigertown USA was fairly tame compared to what it figures to be during the regular season.
Early arrivals in the crowd of 4,891 were discouraged by ushers from gathering near the Astros dugout unless they had box seats along the third base line.
Hecklers aired their voices after batting practice, booing during introduction of lineups and each time Altuve, Bregman, Correa and Gurriel stepped up to the plate. Altuve got some cheers, too, when he was charged with an error for dropping a throw by Bregman from third base on a force play.
The quartet was treated to one more round of boos when they left the game and made the long walk up the first base line to the visiting clubhouse.
Altuve showed no signs of being upset when he was grazed with a pitch by Tigers reliever Nick Ramirez after the batter before him, Myles Straw, homered in the fifth inning. The 2017 AL MVP was replaced by a pinch runner.