Two Astros Fans (Shirtless Cowboy Included) Run Onto the Field, Lead Security on a Wild Chase — Dud of a Clinch Night Turns Bizarre

You never know what you’ll see at a Houston Astros game. Sometimes you show up for a possible division clinching win — and you get a shirtless guy in an orange foam cowboy hat and his buddy with a foam No. 1 finger running onto the field with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. These unfortunate pranksters manage to make it look like the Minute Maid Park security is trying to catch Barry Sanders with their merry weaving around.

The two elude capture for several minutes, even as several security guards dive at them and hit nothing but grass. Where’s Kevin Harlan when you need him?

In the end, the guy wearing his shirt (a white Alex Bregman Astros shirt) gets slammed to the ground. Which seems a little unnecessary considering both guys — who look to be high school to college aged — have essentially given themselves up at this point. (Of course, there have been fans who come onto the playing field with much more nefarious intentions in the past — and there’s an argument that security never can be completely sure.) The shirtless cowboy does drop to the ground on his own — after taking a selfie while running in the outfield. They’re both taken away in cuffs — to loud cheers from the Minute Maid Park crowd.

When the game’s something of a dud — a 7-0 loss to Tampa Bay, the American League’s best regular season team — people tend to look to other diversions. This loss should not have much of a lasting impact even if it delays the Astros’ official playoff clinch for another day — or even two.

This is what life is like when the best teams in the league face off. Back and forth. And often determined by a few plays. The Astros come back to stun the Rays in the bottom of the ninth on Tuesday night. The Rays take it to them on Wednesday. Nothing will be really decided between these teams until October.

The Mariners win again 4-2, long after the Astros are done, keeping the magic number at one for the AL West clinch for Dusty Baker’s team. Still really nothing much to worry about — even if some will raise the alarm if only to have something to talk about besides Deshaun Watson and a bad rebuilding Rockets team opening training camp.

For Houston, it’s really not about this week. These Astros will be defined by what they do in the playoffs. Like usual.

Another school night crowd of close to 30,000 will not get to see a clinch. Instead, they’ll cheer for a shirtless cowboy in the bottom of the ninth. It’s not how anyone expected the night to go.

On a night when Houston’s old friend Gerrit Cole gives up five runs in six innings in a crucial Yankees loss, a night when the Oakland A’s are eliminated and the Phillies are all but eliminated, the Astros leave Minute Maid still in position to reach their World Series visions.

“The key is we’re still on the cusp,” Baker says. “There’s a whole bunch of people who ain’t on the cusp.”

This game is more about the 98-win Rays showing they’ll be a tough out in October themselves with underrated stars like Brandon Lowe, future superstars like Wander Franco and unknown emerging pitchers like Drew Rasmussen. The Rays and Astros do not have the two best records in the American League by accident.

There are also the best defensive teams in the league, which is on full display this night.

Astros veteran catcher Martin Maldonado makes two stellar defensive plays in one inning on this night. First, Maldonado guns out Kevin Kiermaier trying to steal second. Then, he gives up his body with a full forward dive to catch a foul pop-up from Brett Phillips. Struggling Astros starter Luis Garcia owes Maldonado a steak for this bit of back-to-back fourth inning out creating.

“That was awesome,” Baker says of the foul ball catch that ends up knocking Maldonado out of the game with shoulder pain. “That’s probably one of the finer plays of the year. That foul ball wasn’t that high. But he had presence of mind to know where the ball was.”

If the New York Yankees played defense anywhere close to as good as the Astros and the Rays, they’d already be locked into the playoffs. Of course, when the Rays and Astros get together, defensive brilliance almost becomes a game of one-upsmanship.

Astros lifeline Carlos Correa rather easily throws out Phillips at home plate when he tries to turn a triple into an inside the park home run in the eighth inning. Rays wunderkind shortstop Wander Franco makes a high sideways leap to rob Aledmys Diaz in the ninth.

Even when it’s a blowout, these two teams continue to circle each other like sharks eyeing the same prey.

These Astros will be defined by what they do in the playoffs. Like usual.

“I don’t think it’s any reason to worry ourselves at all,” Astros outfielder Jose Siri says of the offensive struggles. “The pitchers have to eat too. They’ve got kids. They have the right to do good on the mound from time to time as well. But we have a lot of talent on this roster. We’ve got (Michael) Brantley, Correa, a lot of different really great hitters.”

Another school night crowd of close to 30,000 will not get to see a clinch. Instead, they’ll cheer for a shirtless cowboy in the bottom of the ninth. It’s not how anyone expected the night to go. But this Astros team certainly has not run out of tomorrows.