Altuve threw to remove the shoe, socked in the wild 9th

SAN DIEGO — Moments after Jose Altuve was ejected for taking off his left cleat and sock to try to prove a point, his replacement, Gray Kessinger, scored the go-ahead run in the 10th inning and then made a sensational play at second base. That sealed the Houston Astros' wild 4-3 victory over the San Diego Padres on Tuesday night.

Altuve grounded out to third for the final out of the ninth but insisted he fouled the ball off his leg. In a frantic scene, he took off his cleats and socks, trying to show the umpires where the ball had hit, which led to him being ejected by plate umpire Brennan Miller. Manager Joe Espada was ejected after the argument continued.

“Sometimes you get hurt somewhere and you take your batting gloves [off] To show you're hurt. I was hoping to do the same thing,” Altuve said.

“It was going through my head that this couldn't happen,” he added. “It's the ninth inning, the winning run on second base, I'm going up against a good pitcher, [Robert] Suarez, closer, so I'm obviously trying to hit and drive in runs and win the game. I get a foul ball because it hits my leg and they take it away from me. I don't think that could happen. There are four men on the field and you can see the direction of the ball change. Just make the right call.”

Espada was still bruised afterwards.

“It's a foul ball,” the manager said. “Once he hits the leg you have to watch the ball, the flight of the ball. I don't understand. I don't understand. It's twice this year. I have a lot of respect for the umpires. They work hard. But there are four.

It was Altuve's third career ejection, including the regular season and playoffs, and second this season (June 30 vs. Mets). His first career ejection was on August 6, 2016, against the Rangers.

Kessinger started the 10th as the automatic runner in place of Altuve, advanced on Jordan Alvarez's groundout and retired Adrian Morzon (2-2) on Kyle Tucker's single.

Astros reliever Hector Neris loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the 10th before Manny Machado grounded out on the force play on a great backhanded stop by Kessinger, who flipped the ball to shortstop Jeremy Pena to end it.

It was Kessinger's first game with the Astros since July 13.

“Right before he hit, I was thinking he was going to hit a ball up the middle and hit it over the mound, and that's exactly what happened. But take it. That's the job,” Kessinger said.

He thought he was going to get into the game after Altuve was tossed.

“It's a foul ball. Once he hits the leg, you have to watch the ball, the flight of the ball. I don't understand. I don't understand. It's twice this year. I have a lot of respect. The umpires work hard, but you have to watch.

Astros manager Joe Espada

“As soon as he started taking off his shoes, I started grabbing my glove. I didn't know if it was me, but I didn't know what he was doing, but I just got ready,” Kessinger said.

The Padres rallied twice to tie the score, first on Machado's 27th homer with one out in the sixth to make it 2-2 — Machado admired his 405-foot homer for several seconds, tossing his bat aside and pointing toward the Padres' dugout as his trot began — – and tied it 3-3 in the eighth when Fernando Tatis scored on junior Josh Hader's two-out wild pitch.

Hader came forward to boos and was called for a pitch clock violation. But after a long delay, it was announced that there was no violation. Hader then threw a wild pitch that brought in Tatis.

Hader stayed with the Padres through the 2022 trade deadline until last year before leaving as a free agent. He drew the ire of San Diego fans when he said late last season that he was reluctant to get more than three outs.

The Padres failed to add to their wild-card lead over Arizona and remain 3½ games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West.

ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.