The Mariners and Astros relationship is already bad, but then Houston pitcher Hector Neris just had to push it over the cliff. After he struck out the Mariners’ Julio Rodriguez, he decided to taunt him.
After Rodriguez swung through the third pitch, Neris spun around on the mound and walked quickly toward home plate, pointing and yelling at Julio.
The Mariners’ Eugenio Suarez, in the on-deck circle at the time, said that Neris yelled a homophobic slur at Rodriguez.
“From the beginning, I thought it was a joke, because before today they (had) a really good relationship,” Suarez said. “And then 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.”
Julio got back at Houston later with a homer, but the M's still lost to the cheatin' Astros, 8-3.