There’s no rule against stealing signs as long as you’re not using technology to do it, but the Red Sox let it be known last night that Manny Machado was stealing signs during Game 2.
From a story by Scott Miller of Bleacher Report, describing what unfolded during the fourth inning Wednesday night, when Machado was on second base:Throughout Enrique Hernandez’s nine-pitch battle with Price, Machado appeared to be relaying signs and/or location to Hernandez through an exaggerated series of motions.
As Price was coming set, Machado, leading off from second, would place his hands on his hips. Then, just before each pitch, Machado would begin a series of motions: touching his helmet with either his right or left hand, sometimes then touching or pulling the script on his jersey afterward and other times grabbing or touching the thigh/groin area of his pants.
Price ended up striking out Hernandez. Red Sox pitching coach Dana LeVangie told Miller that they realized what Machado was doing during the at bat and that he considered going out to tell Price and catcher Christian Vazquez to change up signs, but that he didn’t want to take Price out of his rhythm. Yasiel Puig singled right after that to give the Dodgers a temporary lead.
Not long after that the Red Sox figured out a pretty good way to keep baserunners from stealing signs: not allowing any base runners. Expect them to be a bit more proactive about it in Game 3 tonight.