Mariners' Julio Rodríguez won't reveal what Hector Neris said, but don't expect any forgiveness

SEATTLE — The Mariners' young superstar, Julio Rodríguez, said he will need to reconsider “who I think is a friend” after an incident Wednesday with Astros reliever Hector Neris.

With the American League West and two of the three AL wild-card spots coming down to the final week of the season, the Mariners faced the Astros the first half of this week and opened a series against the Rangers on Thursday in Seattle. Every game over this stretch is laden with postseason implications. On Wednesday, the Astros beat the Mariners to take the series, and in the midst of the 8-3 victory, Neris struck out Rodríguez to strand a potential tying run.

Neris then strode off the mound toward Rodríguez while shouting in Spanish, inciting players from both teams to empty the dugouts and bullpens.

Later, Mariners third baseman Eugenio Suárez, who was on deck at the time, told reporters that Neris used a homophobic slur.

Neris spoke to Houston media before that was made public, but in a statement released Thursday, he strenuously denied that accusation.

“That did not happen and any suggestion to the contrary is wrong. My mother raised me to love and respect people for who they are and that is how I live my life,” Neris said in the statement.

Major League Baseball, which suspended Kevin Pillar for two games in 2017 for the use of a homophobic slur, is looking into the incident. Rodríguez, who spoke to the media Thursday in Seattle, declined to specify what was said.

Earlier in his statement, Neris apologized to Rodríguez, with whom he shares an agent:

In pregame comments Thursday, Rodríguez acknowledged that Neris reached out to apologize, but he seemed uninterested in forgiving him or, indeed, ever talking to Neris again.

“What can I say?” Rodríguez said. “I’m not really looking forward to it.”

Rodríguez also referenced their working out together during the pandemic as the genesis of a friendship he now sees as severed.

“That’s somebody that I had a lot of respect for,” he said. “I just feel I deserve a little bit more respect than that.”

Initially, there was speculation that perhaps there was tension between the two dating back to a home run Rodríguez hit off Neris last season. But Rodríguez said that had “nothing to do with it” and that the two, who were teammates on Team DR in the World Baseball Classic in March, have spoken many times since without incident.

Rodríguez stressed that celebrating — which necessarily comes at someone else’s expense in sports — is fine, provided it’s with your own team and not toward the opposition.

“That’s what I would have liked to see from somebody I thought was my friend,” Rodríguez said.

Before Thursday’s game, Mariners manager Scott Servais said he shared a hard-earned life lesson with his young center fielder. During his playing career as a catcher, Servais was part of an exchange with a close friend on an opposing team that kicked off a raucous brawl.

“There are no friends once the game starts. Only friends you have are the guys in your dugout,” Servais said. “I think he learned that lesson.”

Rodríguez said he learned that he needs to be careful with whom he trusts but also said, “It's kind of hard to kind of learn in that way.”