"Wild Card Battle Turns Fiery as Astros and Mariners Clear Benches"
Tensions escalated between the Houston Astros and Seattle Mariners during their game as Astros reliever Hector Neris allegedly made a homophobic slur in Spanish towards Mariners star Julio RodrÃguez. The incident occurred after Neris struck out RodrÃguez and pointed and shouted at him. Video replay appeared to confirm the slur, which was later confirmed by Mariners third baseman Eugenio Suárez. Both benches cleared as players and coaching staffs argued on the field. This is not the first time these teams have had heated encounters, with previous incidents dating back to 2021.