Major League Baseball is now looking into the benches-clearing incident between the Astros and Mariners on Wednesday night after Houston reliever Hector Neris allegedly used a homophobic slur toward Mariners star Julio Rodriguez, according to The Athletic.
Neris struck out the Seattle All-Star in the sixth inning of the Astros’ win and allegedly shouted the slur in Spanish as he charged toward Rodriguez, Mariners third baseman Eugenio Suarez said, per The Seattle Times.
The Houston right-hander denied saying the slur in a written statement Thursday.
“There were reports that I used a homophobic slur, which are simply incorrect,” Neris said, according to The Associated Press. “That did not happen and any suggestion to the contrary is wrong. My mother raised me to love and respect people for who they are and that is how I live my life.”
Rodriguez had thought of Neris as a friend, and the two played for the Dominican Republic in this year’s World Baseball Classic.
The outfielder said he was hurt by the comments during the incident but did not say if a slur was used.
He also said Neris attempted to reach out to him, but he was not interested in talking.
“I feel like you’ve got to keep it respectful and he was someone I had a lot of respect for and known for quite a long time dating back to 2020 during the pandemic and all that. I just feel like I deserve a little more respect on that,” Rodríguez told reporters Thursday, according to the AP.
After the game, Suarez, who was in the on-deck circle as the bizarre scene unfolded, said the incident made him “mad.”
“That made me so mad, and that’s why I said what I said to them and to him,” Suárez said, according to the AP. “You’ve got to respect people. I play this game in the right way, and I respect everybody. I don’t want to take that, for me, and I let them know that you’ve got to respect our team, too.”
Though Rodriguez did not comment on the nature of Neris’ words, the Seattle Times reported that people close to Rodriguez confirmed how Suarez described what happened.
The Mariners entered the night trailing the Astros by a 1¹/₂ games for the final American League wild card spot as the teams enter the final weekend of the regular season.
— With AP