Torey Lovullo, the D-backs manager, straight up called Cubs manager Craig Counsell to apologize after the whole sign-stealing mess on Monday night. Lovullo admitted he and his team were dead wrong for kicking up such a fuss.
Dugouts Erupt After Pitch-Tipping Accusation
Monday night was wild, man. Cubs third-base coach Quintin Berry was accused of relaying D-backs starter Merrill Kelly’s pitches to his batters, and Arizona blew a gasket. Kelly himself stepped off the mound in the third inning because he realized what was going on. Next thing you know, both dugouts are yelling at each other, with Arizona bench coach Jeff Banister and Chicago bench coach Ryan Flaherty getting into it. Lovullo was right there in the thick of it, totally accusing the Cubs of “bending the rules.” You could feel the heat all the way from Phoenix.
Kelly’s night went sideways fast, lasting just 5 2/3 innings, giving up 3 earned runs off 5 hits and 3 walks on 99 pitches. The D-backs eventually lost 7-0, and Kelly spent the rest of his game perched by the dugout railing, still screaming at Berry. Seriously, the dude was *mad*.
The MLB Truth Bomb Hits Arizona Hard
Here’s where it gets juicy. Lovullo spilled the beans to reporters on Tuesday, right before Game 2 of their series in Phoenix. Turns out, he’d had a chat with MLB senior vice president of on-field operations Michael Hill. And guess what Hill told him? Berry was doing NOTHING illegal. Coaches, first or third base, can relay whatever they pick up, as long as they stay inside the dimensions of the base-coaching box. Lovullo basically said he got schooled.
“I thought it was supposed to be kept between the white lines,” Lovullo told reporters, but Hill set him straight. “He gave me the fastest version that the third-base coach and first-base coach can do whatever they want as along as they are inside the dimensions of the base-coaching box. So, I stand corrected and had a chance to call [Counsell] and apologize to him and told him that we were wrong, and they were doing everything right.” Woof. That’s gotta sting for a manager who was so vocal just hours before.
Merrill Kelly’s Tipping Problem
So, yeah, an apology is one thing, but the real story here for the D-backs isn’t some perceived rule-bending. It’s Merrill Kelly. The dude was tipping his pitches. Kelly told reporters after the game he believed Berry “had something” on his changeup, and he even called the whole idea of coaches relaying pitches “bulls***.” But the cold, hard fact is, it’s legal, and it happened. Now the D-backs have to fix it. Lovullo made that crystal clear: “It’s up to us to fix it, and we’re doing that right now.” This isn’t just about an apology; it’s about a fundamental breakdown in their own pitching.
The D-backs are now left scrambling to figure out how Kelly is giving away his pitches. This whole thing blew up in their face, going from a shouting match to a public apology, and now they’re staring down an internal problem that’s going to take some serious work to correct. You gotta wonder how this will affect them moving forward.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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