Mariners’ Julio Rodríguez won’t reveal what Hector Neris said, but don’t expect any forgiveness
SEATTLE — The Mariners’ young superstar Julio Rodríguez said he will need to reconsider “who I think is a friend” after an incident with Astros’ reliever Hector Neris.
With the American League West and two of the three wild-card spots coming down to the final week of the season, the Mariners faced the Astros first and opened a series against the Rangers Thursday in Seattle. Every game over this stretch is laden with postseason implications. On Wednesday, the Astros beat the Mariners and in the midst of the 8-3 victory, Neris struck out Rodríguez to strand a potential tying run. Neris strode off the mound toward him, shouting in Spanish, inciting players from both teams to empty the dugouts and bullpens.
Later, Mariners third baseman Eugenio Suárez, who was on deck at the time, told reporters that Neris used a homophobic slur.
Neris spoke to Houston media before that was made public, but in a statement released Thursday, strenuously denied that accusation.
“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,” Neris said in the statement. Major League Baseball, which suspended Kevin Pillar for two games in 2017 for the use of a homophobic slur, is looking into the incident. Rodríguez declined to specify what was said.
Earlier in his statement, Neris apologized to Rodríguez, with whom he shares an agent:
“I have a tremendous amount of respect for Julio as a person and a player. He means so much to baseball and the communities in the United States and back home in the Dominican Republic. He is a great player and a better person and deserves to be recognized that way.
Secondly, Julio has been a friend dating back to 2020, when we spent the pandemic working out together. We have had a friendly competition when one beats the other on the field, something that is customary in the Dominican Republic and especially among friends. My intent in going towards Julio was to get his attention as part of the friendly ongoing banter that we have had over the years.
I recognize that last night I should not have gone towards him like I did. I did not mean to disrespect him, his family or the Mariners. I do understand how my actions could be interpreted that way.”
In pregame comments on Thursday, Rodríguez acknowledged that Neris had reached out to apologize, but seemed uninterested in forgiving him or, indeed, ever talking to Neris again.
“What can I say?,” Rodríguez said. “I’m not really looking forward to it.”
Rodríguez also referenced working out together during the pandemic as the genesis of a friendship he now sees as severed.
“That’s somebody that I had a lot of respect for,” he said, “I just feel I deserve a little bit more respect than that.”
Initially, there was speculation that perhaps there was tension between the two dating back to a home run Rodríguez hit off Neris last season. But Rodríguez said that had “nothing to do with it” and that the two, who were teammates on Team DR in the World Baseball Classic, have spoken many times since without incident.
He stressed that celebrating — which necessarily comes at someone else’s expense in sports — is fine, provided it’s with your own team and not toward the opposition.
“That’s what I would have liked to see from somebody I thought was my friend,” Rodríguez said.
Before Thursday’s game, Mariners manager Scott Servais shared a hard-earned life lesson with his young center fielder. During his playing career as a catcher, Servais had been part of an exchange with a close friend on an opposing team that kicked off a raucous brawl.
“There are no friends once the game starts. Only friends you have are the guys in your dugout,” Servais said. “I think he learned that lesson.”
Rodríguez said he learned he needs to be careful with who he trusts but said, “It’s kind of hard to kind of learn in that way.”
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