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.
Rangers manager Chris Woodward opened the bottom of the 10th by having Jonathan Hernandez intentionally balk to move Alex Bregman from second base to third and prevent him from signaling pitch location. (more)
— Richard Justice (@richardjustice) August 11, 2022
"They're really good at doing a lot of things,” Woodward said of Bregman and the Astros. “Just wanted to kind of avoid that. And that's not cheating. At that point, obviously, with a (five-run) lead, we were going to do it."
— Richard Justice (@richardjustice) August 11, 2022
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.
The Rangers believed Bregman was signaling pitch location during Martin Perez's start on Tuesday. Perez and Woodward emphasized it's NOT cheating. But because it's the Astros...
— Richard Justice (@richardjustice) August 11, 2022
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.
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