CASHING IN THEIR CLIPS

Yanks: Video showed Sox scheming when Kahnle got rocked in Fenway

One of the video clips the Yankees sent to the Commissioner’s Office that they claim shows the Red Sox illegal use of electronic gear in the dugout to help steal signs occurred in the seventh inning of an Aug. 18 game at Fenway Park.

Chad Green was removed with Christian Vazquez on second and Jackie Bradley on first, and Tommy Kahnle was summoned to protect a 6-3 lead.

The Yankees assert their clip shows Red Sox assistant athletic trainer Jon Jochim had not just an Apple Watch, but a smartphone, which also is not allowed in the dugout by major league rule. During the pitching change, the Yankees say Jochim pulled the phone from his back pocket, viewed something, then communicated to Dustin Pedroia, who then talked privately with Vazquez, who had come to the dugout during the pitching change. Vazquez then went back to second base.

The Yankees feel the video demonstrates a choreographed communication system that is forbidden in the majors. Kahnle faced six batters in the inning and for each there was a runner at second base. The righty allowed three singles, a sacrifice fly and a walk as Boston took a 7-6 lead.

The tape of the game available on MLB.com does not show the Red Sox dugout during the pitching change. But a review of Kahnle’s performance can give either side ammunition.

For example, catcher Austin Romine visited Kahnle three times and was also on the mound a fourth time when pitching coach Larry Rothschild came out. It is safe to assume in most and probably all of those instances the signs were changed from what they were during the pitching change, potentially nullifying any advantage the Red Sox had.

In addition, Vazquez was only on second base for one batter, Eduardo Nunez, and Nunez generally looked bad in the at-bat even when topping a slow roller that went for an infield single.

There were t hree Kahnle changeups in particular that would raise suspicion that Red Sox hitters knew what type of pitch was coming.

Andrew Benintendi hooked a changeup away for an RBI single between first and second. Hanley Ramirez fouled off a terrific full-count changeup drifting away from him to stay alive in a plate appearance in which he eventually walked. Mitch Moreland stroked an 0-2 changeup below the zone up the middle for the two-run single that put the Red Sox ahead for good.

However, it was the third straight changeup Moreland saw in the at-bat. So was it something that was just good recognition or something helped by a signal relayed by Benintendi at second? And even then did Moreland figure it out himself — considered normal gamesmanship — or was he aided by what the Yankees view as the illegal communication chain?

The Commissioner’s Office will have to sort this out as the Yankees hope for stringent penalties to be levied on their main rivals.

Here’s what else was learned on Wednesday:

After the Yankees discovered the Red Sox were spying on them, they contacted the Commissioner’s Office and were told Red Sox president Dave Dombrowski would contact them. According to a source, the Yankees never heard from Dombrowski and the next day found the Red Sox continuing the practice, which escalated the situation.

Boston manager John Farrell told reporters at Fenway Park that the team was conducting an “ongoing” investigation about what happened and Pedroia downplayed the accusations.

The second baseman said: “Obviously, I played against the Yankees for 11 years. It’s part of the game. Our adjustment to that stuff is to go out to the mound and change the signs. Just keep it at that. It’s baseball.”

Of the Yankees’ evidence, he added: “They had a good picture of me, Brock [Holt] and [Chris Young] hanging out. I was talking to the trainer about what time I’m rehabbing the next day.”

The Yankees also complained about what they thought was an earpiece in Doug Fister’s ear, but that turned out to be a mouth guard, which Pedroia also addressed: “They had a nice [picture] of Doug with an earpiece in and it was his mouth guard. … They beat us. I’m not going to cry to anybody.”

CC Sabathia, who said during last week’s dustup involving Nunez bunting against him that he speaks to former Yankee and current Red Sox outfielder Chris Young regularly, doesn’t believe the accusations will affect the race by either angering the divisionleading Red Sox or bringing the Yankees together.

“I don’t think it will have an impact,” Sabathia said. “It’s baseball. That kind of stuff has been going on forever. I don’t think it’s that big a deal.”

Sabathia, who said he was unaware of the issue until Tuesday, added: “I’ve been killing [Young] since I heard about it. It’s just fun.”