Trevor Bauer trolled the Astros and Dallas Keuchel with trash cans on his cleats.
You don’t have to be playing the Astros to troll the Astros.
Trevor Bauer did it in his start for the Reds against the White Sox on Saturday night by wearing cleats designed with trash cans on them.
His pitching opponent for the night? Former Houston pitcher Dallas Keuchel.
Bauer couldn’t have picked a better time. The Cincinnatti-White Sox game is in primetime on national TV.
No doubt Rob Manfred and MLB higher-ups were none too pleased when the FOX broadcast had to explain the inscriptions “dark arts” and “codebreaker” on the back of Bauer’s cleats. Those were the names used by the Astros for their sign-stealing program.
Of course, that’ll be exactly what Bauer was trying to accomplish.
Trevor Bauer made a statement with his trash can cleats.
Bauer, who is in his second year with Cincinnati, played for the Indians during the span of the Astros sign-stealing scandal. Cleveland was one of the teams who called attention to the possibility of Houston breaking the rules.
He has been an outspoken critic of the team since before the scheme was cracked. In 2018, he got into a spat with Alex Bregman over Houston’s pitchers using questionable methods.
The Reds and Astros weren’t scheduled to play this season, so Bauer took his opportunity to poke at them when he came up against Keuchel, who is now with the White Sox. Keuchel pitched for Houston from 2012 to 2018.
The Reds pitcher can only say his piece about the Astros, but he has real control over the Reds playoff push. Cincinnati is in one of the NL wildcard spots. However, it’ll be a tight battle to clinch with the Giants, Phillies and Brewers all in contention.