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Things got heated during the Houston Astros game against the Boston Red Sox when Hector Neris used a balk to advance a runner to third base, then had a back-and-forth with third base coach Kyle Hudson. Neris surrendered Trevor Story's two-out RBI double in the seventh inning, then balked.
That led to Story moving to third, and then Carlos Narvaez went to shortstop for the final out. Neris had words with Hudson and said something to the Red Sox dugout, which led to both teams coming on the field.
After the game, Neris was asked if he thought that the Red Sox were stealing signs.
“Maybe. Maybe yes, maybe no,” Neris said via the Associated Press. “But I still wanted to concentrate. In [that] situation, I want to do what I'm feeling in the moment. That is the reason why I moved him to third.”
When asked what he said to Hudson and to the Red Sox dugout, he kept quiet.
“Nothing. It's part of the game,” Nerin said. “Something funny. People come into [the clubhouse] maybe to hear what happened, but nothing serious.”
Pitching calls are relayed electronically through PitchCom, but a baserunner on second can look at a pitcher's grip to determine what kind of pitch is coming. A runner on second can also tell when a catcher is setting up to help a batter when it comes to pitch location.
There's no certainty on whether the Red Sox were stealing signs, and there has been punishment for teams that do so. Ironically, it was the Astros in 2017 when the league found out they were using electronics to steal signs during their run to the World Series title, and in the 2018 season.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora was the bench coach for the Astros at that time and served a one-season suspension handed down by MLB. He was then rehired as Red Sox manager in November 2020.
