Chris Woodward Reveals Sign Stealing Played a Role in Alex Bregman Balk Decision

The Texas Rangers entered the bottom of the 10th inning on Wednesday with an 8-3 lead over the Houston Astros. That didn't stop manager Chris Woodward from being as strategic as possible despite the five-run lead, as he opted to have Jonathan Hernandez record a balk to move Houston Astros baserunner Alex Bregman from second to third.

Bregman ended up scoring, but Texas came away with the 8-4 win. Woodward explained the reasoning behind his move was due to Bregman's ability to steal signs.

Woodward is aware of how well Bregman studies his opponents, so he didn't want the All-Star at second relaying what pitches could be coming to Kyle Tucker. The Rangers' manager also made sure to emphasize that Bregman relaying signs isn't cheating, instead taking the side that it's on the team to protect that information, which they did through the balk.

Woodward's decision may have seemed strange to start the 10th, and it could've ended up starting a rally, but Texas was able to close things out despite Bregman's run. It's hard to fault him too much when the team had suspicions of Bregman relaying signs during Tuesday's 7-5 loss.

These teams will now turn their attention to Thursday's rubber match at 2:10 p.m. ET. MLB odds on FanDuel Sportsbook favor the Astros (-300) over the Rangers (+245) on the moneyline.

Isaiah De Los Santos is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Isaiah De Los Santos also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username zayyy05328. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.