Houston Astros starting pitcher Mike Fiers remains adamant he didn't use an illegal substance to help him throw a no-hitter against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night.
Ian Massey was one of many on Twitter to highlight what looked to be some substance shining inside Fiers' glove:
Keith Olbermann remained skeptical a day after the game:
On Saturday, Fiers denied using an illegal substance.
"I mean, you can try to pick out a lot of things through a lot of games," Fiers said as he responded to the allegations, per ESPN.com. "I don't know what they are talking about. It could be a different lighting or camera angle or a lot of things. I don't know."
Astros manager A.J. Hinch had his pitcher's back.
"Last night was about Mike Fiers being a really good major league pitcher, and he had a great accomplishment," Hinch said, per ESPN.com. "Anything that takes away from that is unfortunate, unless there's this massive proof."
Members of the Dodgers played down any potential controversy as well, with Carl Crawford saying he "didn't want to take anything away from his night," according to Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles manager Don Mattingly also had no time for the conspiracy theorists.
"I think it sounds like you’re whining if you look at it and talk about it," he said, per Hernandez.
Mattingly added that the idea of a pitcher using a little help in order to grip the ball is "pretty much accepted, unless it’s blatantly obvious somebody’s doing it."
It's entirely possible MLB will look at the evidence and punish Fiers accordingly if he is found to have used an illegal substance. In 2012, then-Tampa Bay Rays reliever Joel Peralta received an eight-game suspension for having pine tar in his glove. New York Yankees pitcher Michael Pineda had pine tar on his neck in a 2014 game and received a 10-game suspension.
In both of those cases, though, the player was ejected from the game. Considering how little Mattingly and his players are playing up the possible infraction, the league may decide to not take further action.
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