Game 4 of the AL Championship Series. He thought it was a double Michael Wacha Jersey , at least, when he watched the ball ricochet back onto the field.Then, he saw the signal: He was out, and couldn’t believe it. Altuve’s potential homer was wiped away when umpire Joe West ruled that fans reaching for the ball interfered with Boston right fielder Mookie Betts attempting to make a leaping catch.Now Houston’s chances to repeat as World Series champions are nearly out of reach after an 8-6 loss Wednesday night that put the Red Sox ahead 3-1 in the best-of-seven matchup.“I normally don’t get mad at the umpire’s call. That one, I was a little upset,” Altuve said. “All of a sudden, it wasn’t even a double, it was an out. Two runs the game ended up … that make me a little bit more upset.”Denied Altuve’s two-run drive in the first inning, the Astros wound up falling two runs short.“That’s just a tough call right now,” said Houston’s George Springer, who later homered over that same wall. “I understand it’s not easy to make that call. You would like to see a two-run homer be a two-run homer, especially to tie the game.”West, the crew chief working the right-field line at Minute Maid Park, signaled fan interference after Betts was unable to make a jumping grab. Fans made contact with Betts’ glove Ozzie Smith Jersey , though it wasn’t clear if they had reached over the fence.The call stood after a replay review that lasted 3 minutes, 13 seconds. Altuve was ruled out and Springer was sent back to first base.West told a pool reporter the ball had not crossed the top of the wall when “the spectator reached out of the stands and hit him over the playing field and closed his glove.”Betts, one of the best defenders in the majors, said he had it all the way.“That was a ball I could catch. I’m 100 percent positive I was going to be able to catch that one,” he said.“I jumped and went over, reached my hand up, I felt like somebody was kind of pushing my glove out of the way or something,” Betts said.A fan wearing an orange Astros jersey, who identified himself as Troy Caldwell, insisted he wasn’t reaching out over the yellow line atop the 7-foot-high fence when the ball hit his hand.“That ball was gone no matter what,” said Caldwell, a lifelong Astros fan from Houston who now lives in Atlanta.The play came on the same day MLB cleared the Astros of any wrongdoing after a credentialed Houston employee was caught pointing his cellphone into the opposing dugouts during playoff games in Cleveland and Boston.Astros manager AJ Hinch cracked a joke when asked if there were enough cameras at the ballpark to properly review plays like Altuve’s hit.“Yeah, earlier we started the day with do we have too many cameras in the park,” Hinch said Albert Pujols Jersey , smiling. “So, yeah, I wish we had an angle that was perfectly along the fence line that would show. That’s the one camera we don’t have.”Altuve had both hands on his helmet in disbelief while standing on second base, where he stopped when the play ended. Hinch went out to discuss the situation with West, who had a brief consultation with the rest of the six-man umpire crew before the play was reviewed.“Jose pays the biggest price because the trajectory of the ball looked like it was going to leave the ballpark. But we assume — and you can assume a lot with Mookie because he’s an incredible athlete — we assume he’s going to make this spectacular catch jumping as high as he can into the crowd,” Hinch said. “Changed that whole inning.”While Betts didn’t say anything to the fans after the disputed play, Caldwell said he immediately started getting texts that he had cost Altuve and the Astros a home run.Altuve said he had nothing against Caldwell, and would do the same thing as a fan and try to catch a ball.“As long as the Astros come back and win this we’ll be all right,” Caldwell said during the game.They didn’t, and now are facing elimination. PITTSBURGH (AP) — Josh Bell has homered in consecutive games following three days off. He doesn’t think it’s a coincidence.“I was able to kind of reflect a little bit,” Bell said. “Take a step back, watch some baseball, get some work done in the cages and get back to the basics.”The switch-hitting first baseman combined with Ivan Nova, who got his first victory in a month http://www.stlouiscardinalsteamshop.com/authentic-marcell-ozuna-jersey , to help the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Miami Marlins 5-1 Saturday for their fifth consecutive win.In a game played in a steady drizzle, Bell connected off Brett Graves leading off the sixth for his 10th home run, down from 26 last year when he finished third in the NL Rookie of the Year voting. Before his home run Friday, Bell had not driven in a run since Aug. 11.Manager Clint Hurdle did not play Bell on Tuesday or Wednesday against Cincinnati, and the Pirates were off Thursday.“Just like everybody else, we’ve had a sit down and talked about finishing strong, putting some staples on this season and building some momentum toward next year,” Hurdle said.Nova (8-9) gave up three hits in six innings, struck out nine and walked three. He had lost three straight starts since beating San Francisco on Aug. 9 and had missed his previous turn for an undisclosed reason.“I was doing my workouts while I was away,” Nova said. “I’m a professional athlete and I was taking care of my business to make sure I was still ready to pitch.”Nova improved his career record against the Marlins to 4-0.“He’s handcuffed us pretty much every time we’ve seen him over the last couple of years,” Miami manager Don Mattingly said.Pittsburgh at 71-71 reached .500 for the first time since before play on Aug. 21.“Winning matters every day but, yeah, I think we would all like to finish the season strong,” Hurdle said.Wei-Yin Chen (6-10) allowed three runs and five hits in four innings Roger Maris Jersey , dropping to 1-7 with a 9.13 ERA in 11 road starts. He is 5-3 with a 1.77 ERA in 12 home outings.Chen said he did not a good feel for the ball in the wet conditions.“It’s the command. Maybe it’s the weather, it’s the rain, but as a player, that’s what you have to overcome,” Chen said. “That’s not a reason you can say, ‘because it’s the rain.’ As a player, you have to be able to pitch in the rain.”Jose Osuna doubled leading off the second and scored on Kevin Newman’s single. The Pirates took a 3-0 lead in the fourth when Jacob Stallings had a two-out RBI single and center fielder Lewis Brinson allowed the ball to bounce past him for an error that let Jose Osuna score from first.Starling Marte hit an RBI double in the seventh off Elieser Hernandez.Miguel Rojas scored on Nick Kingham’s wild pitch in the eighth for already eliminated Miami, who dropped to 56-68.TRAINER’S ROOMMarlins: Mattingly said the team hopes RHP Dan Straily (strained left oblique) will make his next scheduled start. Straily left in the fifth inning Friday. … SS JT Riddle (sore left wrist) missed his fifth straight game but took indoor batting practice.Pirates: RF Gregory Polanco (bone bruise in left knee) will miss the remainder of the season. He was forced from Friday’s game in the sixth inning following an awkward slide into second base on a double.UP NEXTMarlins: RHP Jeff Brigham (0-1, 9.00 ERA) will make his second start Sunday after giving up three runs in three innings against Toronto in his major league debut Sept. 2.Pirates: RHP Trevor Williams (12-9, 3.15) is 6-2 with a 0.66 ERA in his last nine starts, allowing just four runs in 54 2/3 innings.