During Wednesday’s rubber match of a three-game series between Houston and Seattle, benches cleared in the sixth inning after Hector Neris struck out Mariners star CF Julio Rodriguez and then taunted him.
Hector Neris goes straight at Julio Rodríguez to chirp him after striking him out and the benches clear pic.twitter.com/yQDwhCcUDc
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) September 28, 2023
Mariners 3B Eugenio Suárez — who was on the on-deck circle at the time — told the Seattle Times he heard Neris use a homophobic slur while jawing with Rodríquez.
“He started talking bad words in Spanish. He started doing something that is not good for people who speak Spanish and understand. I was in the on-deck circle and I heard that. That pissed me off,” Suarez said.
No brawl broke out, but Astros catcher Martin Maldonado said the team used the incident to fuel a rally.
“We took advantage from it as a team,” he told the media.
After the incident, Houston outscored Seattle 4-0 en route to an 8-3 win that gave the Astros a 1.5-game lead in the American League wild-card standings entering the season's final weekend.
The Mariners (85-72), meanwhile, simply rolled over.
With a four-game stretch coming up against first-place Texas (89-69) in Seattle, the Mariners must sweep to guarantee a playoff spot. At a minimum, they must win two of four, but they would still need a sweep by the Diamondbacks (84-74) of the Astros (87-72) to make the playoffs.
After losing two of three to the Astros, Seattle needs Rodríquez to step up. The face of the team went 0-for-9 with five strikeouts against Houston, including a four-strikeout game Wednesday.
According to FanGraphs, the Mariners have a 27% chance to make the playoffs. Each of the remaining five games could be a de facto biggest game of the year.
MLB will likely investigate Suarez’s claims of Neris’ use of a homophobic slur. In 2017, the Toronto Blue Jays suspended Kevin Pillar for two games for use of homophobic language during a game.
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