Jose Altuve may want to avoid social media for the next day or so.
The Houston Astros icon got clowned on Tuesday for one of the worst swings and misses of his career against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Daikin Park in Houston, Texas. To make matters worse for the Astros star, his miserable strikeout came against Shohei Ohtani, which has understandably drawn even more eyeballs to the moment.
With a pair of Astros runners at the corners and two outs in the bottom of the 5th inning, Altuve swung at a 1-2 sweeper outside that was in the dirt in the opposite batter’s box. Check out the play for yourself.
lmao pic.twitter.com/HTncVyHmxt
— Blake Harris (@BlakeHHarris) May 6, 2026
The jokes quickly began flying at Altuve’s expense.
Shohei got Altuve swinging at a ball in another county pic.twitter.com/4dEHrmHxtL
— Talkin' Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) May 6, 2026
Altuve missed this Shohei Ohtani Sweeper by 2 Altuves. pic.twitter.com/UeMozHShqL
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 6, 2026
THIS PITCH WAS ALMOST A FULL ALTUVE OUTSIDE pic.twitter.com/ZmhHeQIqGy
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) May 6, 2026
The location of the pitch on MLB.com was almost comical. Even if you extended the strike zone threefold, it would have still been called a ball outside.
Shohei Ohtani got Jose Altuve to swing at this pitch pic.twitter.com/tDDGFWnE5a
— Mike Petriello (@mike_petriello) May 6, 2026
Ohtani pitched a gem on Tuesday, allowing just four hits and a pair of earned runs across 7.0 innings. The Dodgers’ two-way star has arguably been the best pitcher in baseball so far this season.
Shohei sports a sub-1.00 ERA across six starts this season. But as has been the case all season, Ohtani got minimal run support on Tuesday in a 2-1 loss to the Astros. The Dodgers have gone 2-4 in games Ohtani has started this season.
