Merrill Kelly calls out Cubs coach for stealing signs, calls it ‘bush league’

The Chicago Cubs and Arizona Diamondbacks opened up a very important series on Monday night in Phoenix. With the regular season winding down, the Cubs are still chasing the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central. Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks are hoping to catch up in the Wild Card race.

So as you can imagine, things are getting intense here in August.

As the Cubs took down the Diamondbacks 7-0, they opened up the series with a big win. However, there was a big accusation following the game regarding a member of the Cubs’ coaching staff and Arizona’s starter, Merill Kelly.

Merrill Kelly calls out Chicago Cubs for stealing signs?

Kelly struggled in the series opener, going 5.2 innings, giving up five hits, three runs, and walking three while striking out four. His ERA on the season moved to 5.35 as the struggles continued. But Kelly believes the Cubs had a read on his pitching, particularly the changeup.

Midway through the fifth inning, the two dugouts started chirping at each other over whether Cubs third-base coach Quintin Berry was relaying signs to his team. Kelly, nor the Diamondbacks coaching staff appreciated that.

“Stealing signs is as old as baseball,” Kelly said. “I think it’s a little bulls— when it comes from a coach. I think if it’s a guy on second base and they see the grip in your glove or if the hitters can see something that you’re doing with your glove, I think that’s fair game.

“I think guys have been doing that since the beginning of baseball. I think it’s a little bush league when it comes from outside that.”

The Cubs and Diamondbacks dugouts had some words for each other. pic.twitter.com/qleOIaAUZX

— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) August 25, 2026

The shouting got intense but as you can imagine with playoff hopes on the line, things are going to get heated. After the game, Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo confirmed that.

“We were barking at their third-base coach and he was barking back,” Lovullo said. “And what’s funny in April is not funny in August, everybody’s edgy. And they’re protecting their side, we’re protecting our side. And that’s as far as I wanna go with that.”

For the Diamondbacks, it felt like frustrations from their recent play and falling behind in the Wild Card race. But as game two looms on Tuesday, it’s something to watch for both sides.

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