Guardians’ Luis Ortiz subject of MLB gambling investigation, placed on leave, AP sources say
Cleveland Guardians pitcher Luis Ortiz is the subject of a Major League Baseball gambling probe and was placed on non-disciplinary leave Thursday two people with knowledge of the probe stated The Associated Press The people spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the nature of the research The inquiry is related to in-game prop bets on two pitches thrown by Ortiz that received higher activity than usual during his starts at Seattle on June and his new outing against St Louis on June The gambling activity on the pitches was flagged by a betting-integrity firm and forwarded to MLB ESPN communicated the firm IC in the last few days also sent an alert to sportsbook operators regarding Ortiz The Athletic was the first to account that Ortiz s suspension was related to gambling MLB noted Ortiz s paid leave is through the end of the All-Star break when players return to their teams July and games resume the following day It can be extended if the inquiry remains ongoing Chris Antonetti Cleveland s president of baseball operations commented before Thursday night s tournament at the Chicago Cubs that the crew can continue to have contact with Ortiz but he can t enter any of the Guardians facilities Ortiz returned to Cleveland on Wednesday night Ortiz was slated to be the starting pitcher for Thursday night s series finale Instead left-hander Joey Cantillo was recalled from Triple-A Columbus Cantillo is - with one save and a ERA in appearances this season We learned very little last night but knew we needed to get someone here in contemporary times to start in current times s event and that really was our focus Antonetti announced A lot has come out currently and that s far more information than we have Our focus is we ll let the investigative process play out To the extent Major League Baseball or anyone demands our aid in that we will obviously cooperate But beyond that there s really not much we can do Manager Stephen Vogt stated he and Antonetti addressed the gang about Ortiz s situation and tried to answer questions the best they could It is another setback for a Guardians squad that has dropped a season-high six straight games and is - since May Honestly when I got the news on the previous day I didn t know how to feel Vogt explained There s so much unknowns with this but you know what Every gang goes through adversity maybe different kinds but this is a resilient group I ve been through situations similar to this before in my career as a athlete and what would I have required to hear How would I want the manager to have reacted and that s what I m trying to do The -year old Ortiz is in his first season with Cleveland after he was acquired in a transaction with Pittsburgh last December The right-hander is - with a ERA and strikeouts in starts this season The nine losses are tied for the the majority in the American League In four big-league seasons Ortiz is - with a ERA and one save The inquiry into Ortiz comes a little more than a year after MLB suspended five players for gambling including a lifetime ban for San Diego Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano MLB mentioned Marcano placed baseball bets totaling more than with a legal sportsbook in and Athletics pitcher Michael Kelly and three minor leaguers San Diego pitcher Jay Groome Arizona pitcher and Philadelphia infielder Jos Rodr guez received one-year suspensions Umpire Pat Hoberg was fired by Major League Baseball in February for sharing his legal sports gambling accounts with a friend who bet on baseball games and for intentionally deleting electronic messages pertinent to the league s research Freelance writer Matt Carlson in Chicago contributed to this description AP MLB https apnews com hub mlb Source
