WILD Scene as Astros & Red Sox Benches Empty Over... Sign Stealing?
"Imagine the Astros being mad about (another team) stealing signs." That was the line of the night, dropped by Will Middlebrooks on the Boston Red Sox broadcast after the benches cleared between the Sox and the Houston Astros, due to Astros pitcher Hector Neris suspecting Trevor Story was stealing signs from second base.
Benches clear in Boston after Hector Neris intentionally balked Trevor Story to third base because he thought Story was relaying signs. Neris had words for the Red Sox third base coach coming off the field pic.twitter.com/MxWccFu7F9
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) August 2, 2025
Neris intentionally balked Story over to third base, thinking that the Red Sox runner was relaying signs to the batter from second. After the inning, Neris said something to Boston's third base coach as they walked off the field, and that's when things got testy as both dugouts and bullpens emptied.
"Guess what, that's part of the game," continued Middlebrooks, suggesting that Story was eyeing Neris' grip on the ball before each pitch to alert the batter to what was coming. "This is not cheating. This is part of the game. If you don't like it, you hide your grip better."
Of course, that is the legal way to try to steal signs or pitches in baseball, and has been for 150 years. If there were no video cameras—or garbage cans—used, then it's all fair game.
The Red Sox were leading 7-3 at the time in the bottom of the 7th inning, and went on to win the game by that score.
No punches were thrown, and order was eventually restored.
Of course, if you haven't heard, the Astros were the authors of the infamous sign-stealing scandal in 2017, when they used electronics to steal signs from the opposing catcher, then relayed those signs to their hitter by banging on garbage cans that were situated just inside their dugout.
