Supermodel Kate Upton fires back after Twitter users insult her opinions over Game 4
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Justin Verlander's wife, supermodel Kate Upton, was not happy with the umpire's call that many said robbed Jose Altuve of a home run in the first inning of Game 4 in the ALCS.
Upton took to social media to express her opinions tweeting, "So if a player is IN the stands fans are suppose to move over? If those are the rules MLB shouldn't let fans sit there. They didn't reach over the fence."
Verlander's brother, Ben Verlander, responded to Upton with a baseball statement in a tweet.
"Glad you asked. The last paragraph clearly states 'No interference shall be allowed when a player reaches over a fence.' So no. The fans had every right at that ball," Ben wrote.
While some people may have agreed with her, others came back with some harsh responses. Moments later, she tweeted "I feel the need to acknowledge & address the amount of people who have called me "princess", "honey" or a terrible "girl" sports fan. Just because I have an opinion on the call doesn't give you the right to be degrading & disrespectful because I'm a woman."
Game 4 was full of drama, but it was the call from veteran umpire Joe West that caused the controversy early on in the game.
Altuve was sure he'd hit a tying home run for the Astros. He thought it was a double, 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.
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."
Here is the full definition of Spectator Interference, according to the MLB.
In every case of spectator interference with a batted or thrown ball, the ball shall be declared dead and the baserunners can be placed where the umpire determines they would have been without the interference. When a spectator clearly prevents a fielder from catching a fly ball by reaching onto the field of play, the batter shall be ruled out. But no interference is called if a spectator comes in contact with a batted or thrown ball without reaching onto the field of play -- even if a fielder might have caught the ball had the spectator not been there.
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 Associated Press contributed to this report.
