Altuve knocks out Yankees … on scoreboard with line-drive double
HOUSTON — Take that, Yordan.
Three days after Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez knocked out the scoreboard at Tropicana Field during batting practice, teammate Jose Altuve did him one better. Altuve drilled a line drive in the third inning of Friday’s game against the White Sox that went into the scoreboard, which is believed to be the first time that’s happened in Minute Maid Park’s 25-year history.
That’s right, Altuve’s line drive off the bat of White Sox starter Garrett Crochet was rocketed at 108.4 mph and knocked out a linescore digit on the manual out-of-town scoreboard in left field. The ball struck the number 0 in the fourth inning of the line score of the Yankees’ game against the Tigers and disappeared behind the scoreboard.
Altuve was awarded a ground-rule double and later scored on a bloop single by Alvarez, who joked postgame Tuesday that he wasn’t going to foot the bill for knocking the Tropicana Field scoreboard offline. On Friday, a scoreboard worker at Minute Maid Park retrieved Altuve’s ball and held it up through the hole in the board replacing the number.
Even when he’s not playing the Bronx Bombers, Altuve is still taking shots at the Yankees.