The Astros' pitcher intentionally threw a foul ball to prevent the Red Sox from stealing signs, leading to a bench-clearing conflict.

Today, after the seventh inning of the game where the Boston Red Sox defeated the Astros 7-3, a verbal altercation between Astros reliever Héctor Neris and Red Sox third base coach Kyle Hudson caused both teams' bench and bullpen personnel to briefly clear onto the field.

“I was just joking around,” Neris laughed when asked about the conversation, adding, “It’s just part of the game.” When Carlos Narváez grounded out to end the seventh inning, Neris shouted at Hudson, who was returning to the dugout from the third base coaching box. Hudson had already started to walk away but stopped to respond to Neris, which led to both teams rushing onto the field.

The incident stemmed from a crucial situation in the bottom of the seventh: with Boston shortstop Trevor Story on second base, Neris intentionally threw a foul ball to advance him to third. Neris explained that this move was to focus on the batter and to prevent the runner from peeking at his grip or position.

“There might be risks or there might not, but I need to stay focused,” Neris stated. “In this situation, I acted on instinct, and that was the motivation for the move.” Prior to this, Story had just hit a two-run double that brought Rob Refsnyder home, prompting pitching coach Joshua Miller to come out for a discussion.

When Story was asked about the reason for the conflict, he was evasive: “I’m not sure; you’d have to ask the parties involved. I was walking back to the dugout when suddenly I saw people rushing out.”

After the umpires quickly restored order, the game continued without further interruption, but both teams had a history of being penalized for sign stealing:

In 2017, the Red Sox were fined for using an Apple Watch to relay sign information from the video replay room to the dugout. Commissioner Rob Manfred subsequently sent a memo to all MLB teams warning that “future violations will be severely punished, with general managers and managers held accountable.”

A 2019 report revealed that the Astros had used a sign-stealing system during part of the 2017 season—someone would bang on a trash can to signal the type of pitch to the batter. The team was fined $5 million and stripped of draft picks. General manager Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch were banned by MLB and subsequently fired by the Astros.

The sign-stealing scandal shook the baseball world and also affected the Red Sox: manager Alex Cora, accused of being the mastermind behind the Astros' sign-stealing (while serving as bench coach), was suspended until the 2020 postseason, and the Red Sox rehired Cora before the 2021 season.