Dusty Baker, Astros address ‘heavy accusations’ of cheating from White Sox pitcher

Chicago White Sox reliever Ryan Tepera sent shockwaves through the sports world on Sunday when he implied in his postgame presser that the Houston Astros are back in the business of illegally stealing signs.

Less than 24 hours later, the Astros responded.

“Well, those are some heavy accusations,” Astros skipper Dusty Baker said in a measured manner during his Monday press conference.

Tepera, who pitched two innings in Sunday’s 12-6 victory for the Sox in Game 3 of the ALDS, appeared to imply the Astros hit better at home than they do on the road because “they’re doing something over there that’s a little bit different.”

“They (have) about the same runs, OPS and everything as we (have) — well, actually, better on the road than we are at home,” Baker said of the White Sox. “And I think they’re actually better at home than they are on the road.

“So I don’t have much response to that other than I was listening to Eric Clapton this morning, and he had a song, ‘Before you accuse me, you need to take a look at yourself.’ You know what I mean?”

Third baseman Alex Bregman used fewer words when asked what he thought of Tepera’s comments, simply saying he wasn’t going to give it much thought.

“It’s all good,” Bregman said. “We’re just focused on winning games. That’s it.”

Game 4 between the White Sox and Astros in Chicago has been postponed until Tuesday because of bad weather, so this war of words could either totally blow over or manifest into an ALDS bloodbath.

Stay tuned.