Kyle Tucker got screwed out of a 30/30 season, but there is still hope yet

Most of the Houston Astros news yesterday was overwhelmingly positive as managed to snatch the AL West crown away from the Rangers on the regular season's final day. However, there was a bittersweet quality to things yesterday as Kyle Tucker had a tremendous accomplishment ultimately taken away from him.

Sitting on 29 homers going into the final game of the season, Tucker needed just one homer to join the exclusive list of players who have put together a 30/30 season and his chance came in the fifth inning when he hit a ball over the head of right fielder Jake McCarthy. Tucker was off to the races and when he noticed that the Diamondback's shortstop wasn't relaying the ball home, Kyle just kept going and scored.

That is when the chaos started as the play was first ruled a triple and an error. However, it was then ruled a triple and a fielder's choice after that, then changed AGAIN to an inside the park home run, and finally scored a triple and a fielder's choice.

Kyle Tucker will appeal scoring decision that took his inside the park home run away

All of this comes down to how official scorers can interpret the actions on the field and specifically whether or not Tucker would have scored normally and whether or not his hesitation upon approaching third base should impact scoring the play as a triple or a home run. It is honestly a close call that is up to interpretation, but Tucker is definitely going to try and get the call changed as he is planning on petitioning MLB to change it.

The petition process is actually fairly common especially when it comes to changing errors to hits and vice versa. If Tucker is successful, he will join just Jeff Bagwell as the only Astros hitters ever to record a 30/30 season. Either way, he has been tremendous in 2023 and fans will be watching closely to see if Dana Brown can find a way to extend him beyond the 2025 season.

More Astros News from Climbing Tal's Hill