Dodgers fans filled a section at Astros' stadium and chanted 'Cheaters!' all game

• Dodgers fans bought out an entire section at the Astros' home stadium for Tuesday night's game.
• The Dodgers fans chanted "cheaters!" at Astros players and fans throughout the game.
• It was the first meeting with fans between the two teams since the Astros' cheating scandal broke.

The Houston Astros can't even escape the public shame of their 2017 cheating scandal on their own field.

Los Angeles Dodgers fans bought out an entire section at the Astros' home stadium, Minute Maid Park. It was the first game between the two teams with fans in attendance since Houston's 2017 cheating scandal was revealed.

Dodgers fans put their tickets to use by chanting "CHEATERS!" in unison throughout the game, as the Dodgers won 9-2.

After a lengthy investigation in 2019, MLB concluded that the Astros used illegal surveillance technology and banged on trashcans to steal the signs of opposing pitchers at Minute Maid Park, giving their hitters a huge advantage when playing at home. The sign-stealing potentially hurt many clubs, but arguably none more than the Dodgers, whom the Astros defeated in the World Series that year.

For Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who was making his first start against Houston on Tuesday night since Game 5 of the 2017 World Series, the sight of Dodgers fans jeering the Astros in their own stadium was 'special.'

"It was really special to see that many Dodger fans out there," Kershaw said in the postgame press conference. "Everything that happened in the past has affected them just like it's affected us. You can feel it in the way they cheer and the way they go about it."

"Just like what it felt like being there tonight, pitching again after the World Series in 2017. I don't know. I don't really know how to express it. It did feel like a little more like an important game, but maybe it was just because it was a full crowd."

The Dodgers' chants evolved as the game went on, and the Dodgers made the score more and more lopsided. When Astros fans started to exit the building during the later innings, Dodgers fans serenaded them with taunting "goodbye" chants.

The Dodgers and Astros met at Minute Maid Park and Dodgers Stadium last summer, but in front of empty stands due to COVID-19 restrictions that prevented fans from attending sporting events. Still, the animosity between the two teams showed up in a bases-clearing confrontation in Houston after Dodgers pitcher Joe Kelly threw a fastball behind Astros slugger Alex Bregman's head and then struck out shortstop Carlos Correa.

Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes said the return to Houston after that game was an important mark on the team's schedule this year.

"It'll always be something weird there," Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes told reporters before Tuesday's game. "Those games were important to us, obviously. I know it's a while ago, but I don't know, there's something weird there. It's different coming back. You just wanna beat these guys."

The Dodgers and Astros are set to play the second game of a two-game series on Wednesday night and will meet in Los Angeles at Dodgers Stadium for a two-game series on Aug. 3-4.