During the Padres' game against the Red Sox on Saturday, the broadcast captured a glimpse of a Red Sox coach using two side-by-side pictures to denote the difference between Padres closer Robert Suarez's fastball and changeup setups.
The Padres led 4-3 until Suarez, a two-time All-Star closer and the current MLB leader in saves, came in during the 9th inning and gave up a run. Though the Padres went on to win the game in extra innings, Suarez was credited with a blown save and concerns emerged from the outside that Suarez tipping pitches allowed Boston to tie things up.
It's unclear if the Red Sox were actually able to take advantage of Suarez's cues, but the Padres still got the win and are not overly concerned.
âI think itâs overblown," Padres manager Mike Shildt said, via Dennis Lin of "You can look at it and slow it down, and you can take a picture of it. Go do it in front of 40,000 people in real time and with an athlete thatâs moving and see how successful you are. I do think thereâs people and thereâs teams and players that are good at it, but I also think that even if itâs slightly there, itâs really hard to pick up in live competition.â
The Padres were also aware of the possibility of Suarez tipping pitches before Saturday's game, and had already worked on adjusting his tendencies throughout the season.
âThe whole year,â Padres pitching coach Ruben Niebla said, via Lin. âThatâs one of our things in spring training where weâre like, âHey, this is what you do to tip pitches.â And ⊠through the course of the year, when youâre working through battles or however you want to put it, some tendencies start showing back up. And weâre always cross-checking, cross-checking, cross-checking.
âIn the heat of the battle, sometimes thatâs the last thing (pitchers) might be thinking about," Niebla added. "You know, it might show up. But overall, I think weâve been really good as a team.â
