Padres All-Star Reliever is Tipping His Pitches

San Diego Padres relief pitcher Robert Suarez (75) leaves the game during the ninth inning against the Los Angeles Angels at Petco Park on May 12. | Denis Poroy-Imagn Images

When the San Diego Padres' telecast of Saturday's game against the Boston Red Sox zoomed in on the visitors' dugout at Petco Park, the internet exploded.

Were the Red Sox stealing signs?

Red Sox are picking up on a Robert Suarez tip

Something about his setup when he comes set is giving away which pitch he’s throwing

Clear as day and in plain sight on the Red Sox team iPads pic.twitter.com/wTRfDXXlQf

— Ryan Knows Ball (@RyanKnowsBall) August 10, 2025

If so, it would not have been the first time. On closer inspection, however, this was a case of two still images telling the Red Sox something the Padres already knew: one of their pitchers was tipping his pitches.

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The pitcher, Robert Suarez, was told about the tip before the Red Sox caught on, Padres pitching coach Ruben Niebla told The Athletic on Monday.

Cameras got an angle of a Red Sox coach showing images of the difference between Padres reliever Robert Suarez's setup when he's about to throw a fastball or a changeup pic.twitter.com/xWoA65Sy4X

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) August 10, 2025

“I know it was made a big deal,” Niebla told Dennis Lin. "I got 36 DM messages about it. But it’s like, ‘Yeah, we already know.’ "

The tip, in this case, involved how Suarez gripped the ball in his glove differently when preparing to throw a fastball or a changeup. Cedanne Rafaela tagged Suarez for a softly hit single, and scored on a scorching double by Roman Anthony, in the ninth inning Saturday. Rafaela's hit came on a changeup; Anthony's came on a fastball.

Maybe the Red Sox were on to something. Saturday's game snapped a streak of three consecutive scoreless outings by Suarez. He picked the streak up again Monday with a scoreless inning in San Francisco.

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Niebla's comments to Lin suggest pitch-tipping is something often dealt with internally that rarely surfaces as an issue in public.

"That’s one of our things in spring training where we’re like, ‘Hey, this is what you do to tip pitches.’ And … through the course of the year, when you’re working through battles or however you want to put it, some tendencies start showing back up," he said. "And we’re always cross-checking, cross-checking, cross-checking.

“In the heat of the battle, sometimes that’s the last thing (pitchers) might be thinking about. You know, it might show up. But overall, I think we’ve been really good as a team.”

For the most part, whatever the Padres are doing to combat pitch-tipping is working. Their 3.57 ERA as a team through Tuesday leads the National League.

Suarez, 34, is a two-time All-Star who leads the NL in saves (33). His 48 FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) is the lowest of his four-year career in San Diego. He's allowed only 38 hits in 51.1 innings through Tuesday.

Now that two teams — and the public — are onto whatever Suarez was doing to alert opponents to his pitches before last weekend, it would be a shock if the issue surfaced again.

For more Padres news, head over to Padres on SI.