Robbie Ray felt like something was off when his slider wasn’t getting the usual swings during a game against the Orioles. He noticed hitters laying off pitches they normally chase, especially his best swing-and-miss slider. Curious, he kept throwing it, but Baltimore’s lineup kept taking. He started mixing in more fastballs and noticed the Orioles were swinging freely at those. That’s when he began looking toward the Orioles dugout, suspecting they might be tipping his pitches. At one point, he clearly reacted to some yelling from the Orioles bench, particularly the repeated shout of “on delay” during sliders, and he stepped off the mound to confront the noise.
Robbie wasn’t subtle. He challenged the dugout verbally and with stares, feeling like the hitters knew too much. Orioles manager Brandon Hyde stepped in, shouting back and trying to protect his players. At one point, Hyde yelled something meant to be “get your ass back on the mound,” but it came out garbled in the heat of the moment. The players kept yelling “on delay” just to mess with Ray further. Despite the drama, Ray worked out of the inning, ending it with another hard-hit out, then stared down the Orioles on his way off the field.
After the game, Hyde apologized for his language being picked up on a hot mic but stood by his team. He said the Orioles didn’t do anything wrong and were just playing the game the right way. Ray didn’t elaborate much after the game but made it clear he didn’t like being messed with. Stats showed the Orioles weren’t avoiding the slider in any suspicious way, but Ray’s paranoia had already kicked in. It turned what should’ve been a routine inning into a tense back-and-forth with plenty of side-eye.