HOUSTON _ Controversy threatened the fourth game of the American League Championship Series between the Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox long before Andrew Benintendi made a game-saving dive to end a 4 hour 33-minute battle of wills at Minute Maid Park.
A man in a 1984 presidential campaign hat and bright orange shirt stood at the center of the storm.
With a runner on first base in the first inning of an eventual 8-6 Red Sox win, designated hitter Jose Altuve hit a long fly ball against Red Sox starter Rick Porcello. It seemed to chart a course for the stands, a missile that had the man locked as its target.
But the ball flew just low enough for right fielder Mookie Betts to try to catch it at the wall. Betts perfectly timed a jump and stuck out his glove, only to have the ball glance off it for an apparent home run.
The ball bounced back to the field and the Astros huffed as right-field umpire and crew chief Joe West called an out. He ruled fan interference by the man in the orange shirt, judging on sight that the man had forced Betts' glove closed when he tried to catch the ball.
Astros manager A.J. Hinch trotted out of the first base dugout to question West. West called for a video review, but officials in New York ruled that the call stood. They did not have enough evidence to overturn the ruling, sending the announced crowd of 43,277 into a tizzy.
Although the ruling robbed the Astros of a tying home run, it mattered little in the end.
The Astros still managed to hit Porcello hard. They knocked him around for seven hits and four runs in four innings. At 68 pitches, manager Alex Cora determined Porcello was not sharp enough to remain in the game. Although he wasn't yet sure who would start Game 5 in the place of ill ace Chris Sale, Cora chose to deploy his relief corps early.
Veteran reliever Joe Kelly relinquished a run when Carlos Correa shot a two-out single into left field to give the Astros a 5-4 lead in the fifth inning. But everyone else that emerged from the Red Sox bullpen validated Cora's tactics.
The Red Sox are one victory shy of clinching their first AL pennant since 2013.
For two days, the Astros' "Never Settle" slogan was brandished on banners in front of sellout crowds. The first was stretched over the center of the diamond by guests during Tuesday's pregame ceremonies; the second was whipped back and forth on a pole by Astros mascot Orbit before Wednesday night's marathon.
The Astros appeared to take heed of the frenzied rallying. They clawed across four runs in three innings, took their first ALCS lead since the third inning of their Game 2 loss in Boston and overcame the Red Sox tying the game on an aggressive two-out send home of Benintendi in the fifth inning.
But it was not enough. The Astros squandered too many opportunities, stranding 13 runners.
Trailing by two runs in the seventh inning, pinch-hitter Tyler White stranded two runners in scoring position when he was caught looking at Matt Barnes' belt-high curveball that dropped in over the plate. The strikeout ended the inning.
Having pushed across one run against closer Craig Kimbrel in the eighth inning, the Astros left another runner at third base when Marwin Gonzalez grounded out to end the inning.
Yet, that wasn't the Astros' final chance at a comeback. Kimbrel walked consecutive batters with one out in the ninth inning, and walked one more batter with two outs to bring up Alex Bregman.
Bregman jumped on Kimbrel's first-pitch fastball and hit it on a line to left field. It was shot just low enough to incite a deafening roar from those remaining in the crowd. But Benintendi played the line drive perfectly, capturing it as he splayed out on his stomach for the final out.
The World Series defending-champion Astros will fight for their postseason lives Thursday night, also at home.
