Astros dismiss sign-stealing claim

CHICAGO—The Houston Astros found themselves in familiar territory Monday, brushing aside comments by Chicago White Sox reliever Ryan Tepera after he implied they stole signs while winning the first two games of the AL Division Series in their ballpark.

“He can say what he wants to say,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said. “I had never even heard his name before we played the White Sox. I’m not bothered by it. Most of my life, they’ve been talking stuff on me anyway. Let them talk.”

Baker pointed out the Astros had similar offensive statistics at home and on the road, then offered some advice while mentioning he had listened to Eric Clapton that morning.

“He had a song, ‘Before You Accuse Me (Take a Look at Yourself),’ ” he said. “That’s all I’ve got to say.”

The Astros were disciplined by Major League Baseball after it was found that they used electronics to steal signs during their run to the 2017 World Series title and again in the 2018 season. It remains a sensitive subject, and Tepera shined another light on it with his comments after the White Sox won Game 3 Sunday to avoid a sweep.

Game 4 of the best-of-five series was postponed Monday because of rain in the forecast. It’s expected to go ahead Tuesday.

The Astros put themselves in position to sweep after two impressive victories by a combined 15-5 score at Minute Maid Park. But they whiffed 16 times in Game 3, a 12-6 loss at Guaranteed Rate Field, after striking out a combined 16 times in the first two games.

Tepera, who threw two perfect innings, noted the difference.

“Yeah. It is what it is,” he said. “They’ve obviously had a reputation of doing some sketchy stuff over there,” he said. “It’s just, we can say that it’s a little bit of a difference. I think you saw the swings and misses tonight compared to, you know, the first two games at Minute Maid.”

Houston third baseman Alex Bregman shrugged that off.

“It’s all good,” he said. “We’re focused on winning games. That’s it.”

White Sox manager Tony La Russa said he was aware of Tepera’s remarks, but hadn’t read them.

“This is America, and players on our side can say what they want to,” he said. “I think that they’re a very good team and they’re tough to beat.”

White Sox fans chanted “Cheater! Cheater!” when Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa and Bregman batted on Sunday.