Twins Fans Try To Distract Astros Pitcher With Pitch Clock Countdown

Thanks to a dominant 9-1 win on Tuesday afternoon, the Houston Astros are just one win away from advancing to the American League Championship Series yet again.

Astros starter Christian Javier overcame some early wildness and a first inning threat to go five innings allowing just one hit and no earned runs along with nine strikeouts. But during his start, he had to overcome more than just wildness.

Javier, not known as a fast worker, started off running the pitch clock down near zero before each pitch, and the fans quickly seized on the opportunity. The raucous Minnesota Twins crowd at Target Field in the bottom of the first inning started loudly counting down the pitch clock as the seconds ticked away, reminiscent of college basketball crowds with the shot clock.

Broadcasters, including retired Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright, believed it could be an effective tactic to distract Javier or make it harder for him to hear the pitch com signals.

But did it actually affect him?

After the game, Javier said it actually helped him, because he stopped paying attention to it and used the crowd noise to determine when he needed to start his delivery.

That said, Javier did give up a double to Max Kepler during that at bat, before bouncing back to get back-to-back strikeouts and get out of the 1st inning.

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - OCTOBER 10: Cristian Javier #53 of the Houston Astros pitches in the fifth inning against the Minnesota Twins during Game Three of the Division Series at Target Field on October 10, 2023 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images)

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While Javier did seem to bounce back from the extremely loud countdown, maybe another pitcher would have been more rattled by it.

Which raises the question, will what the Astros pitcher faced become something of a home playoff tradition? This is the first MLB postseason with the pitch clock in place, and while home field advantage has all but evaporated, maybe pitch clock countdowns could be a way to bring some of it back.

READ: MLB HAS A POSTSEASON PROBLEM, AND HERE ARE SOME IDEAS OF HOW TO FIX IT

The Astros and Twins play again at 7:07pm Eastern on Wednesday, with Houston sending out Jose Urquidy against Minnesota's Joe Ryan.

If nothing else, it's worth watching to see if the Target Field crowd decides to try their pitch clock countdown again.