{"id":45822,"date":"2025-11-09T23:46:15","date_gmt":"2025-11-09T23:46:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/45822\/"},"modified":"2025-11-09T23:46:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T23:46:15","slug":"guardians-emmanuel-clase-and-luis-ortiz-indicted-for-pitch-rigging","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/45822\/","title":{"rendered":"Guardians’ Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz indicted for pitch rigging"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Cleveland Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase<\/a> and starter Luis Ortiz<\/a> face federal charges of fraud, bribery and conspiracy for allegedly intentionally throwing pitches outside the strike zone so bettors could wager correctly on whether pitches would be balls or strikes.<\/p>\n

The 23-page indictment filed in the Eastern District of New York and unsealed Sunday outlines several incidents, including one this season that involved the Dodgers<\/a>. <\/p>\n

During a game at Cleveland<\/a> on May 28, the indictment states that Clase threw a pitch that was meant to be a ball, but Dodgers outfielder Andy Pages<\/a> swung and missed, resulting in a strike. Clase retired the side in order for his 11th save of the season in Cleveland\u2019s 7-4 victory. <\/p>\n

About 20 minutes later, the indictment states that \u201cBettor-1\u201d sent a message to Clase of a GIF of a man hanging himself with toilet paper. Clase allegedly responded to \u201cBettor-1\u201d with a GIF of a sad puppy dog face.<\/p>\n

The indictment states that from 2023 to 2025, bettors \u201cwon at least $400,000 from the Betting Platforms on pitches thrown by\u201d Clase. <\/p>\n

Ortiz joined the scheme in 2025, according to the indictment: \u201cOrtiz agreed to throw balls (instead of strikes) on certain pitches in exchange for bribes or kickbacks.\u201d Clase allegedly served as middle man between the bettors and Ortiz.<\/p>\n

The indictment states the alleged scheme started as early as May 2023 with Clase, who purposely threw pitches outside the strike zone so bettors could win proposition bets. <\/p>\n

In announcing the indictment,<\/a> U.S. Atty. Joseph Nocella Jr. said professional athletes hold a position of trust \u2014 with their teammates, leagues and fans. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs alleged, the defendants sold that trust to gamblers by fixing pitches, \u201c Nocella said. \u201cIn doing so, the defendants deprived the Cleveland Guardians and Major League Baseball of their honest services. They defrauded the online betting platforms where the bets were placed. And they betrayed America\u2019s pastime.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Clase hurled a pitch in the dirt when facing Bobby Witt Jr. of the Kansas City Royals during a game in April, prosecutors allege Clase was thinking about something besides getting Witt out. He was thinking about \u201crepairs for the country house,\u201d according to the indictment. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe defendants agreed in advance with their co-conspirators to throw specific types and speeds of pitches, and their co-conspirators used that inside information to place wagers on those pitches,\u201d wrote Assistant U.S. Atty. David Pitluck in the indictment. \u201cIn some instances, the defendants received bribes and kickback payments \u2014 funneled through third parties \u2014 in exchange for rigging pitches.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clase, 27, is one of the top closers in baseball. The right-hander from the Dominican Republic led the American League in saves in 2022, 2023 and 2024 and has a career earned-run average of 1.88 to go with 182 saves. <\/p>\n

Clase signed a five-year, $20-million contract in April 2022 that included a $2-million signing bonus. The deal also includes $10-million club options for 2027 and 2028.<\/p>\n

Ortiz, also from the Dominican Republic, was traded to the Guardians before the 2025 season after spending three seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates. ESPN reported that the betting-integrity firm IC360 sent alerts to sportsbook operators regarding two pitches thrown by Ortiz in June. <\/p>\n

The first came when Ortiz spiked a slider in the dirt to open the second inning against the Seattle Mariners. The second came when Ortiz opened the third inning against the St. Louis Cardinals with a slider that flew to the backstop.<\/p>\n

Both pitchers were placed on non-disciplinary paid leave in July when MLB launched an investigation and were moved to the restricted list when the regular season ended. The Ohio Casino Control Commission also started an investigation. <\/p>\n

If convicted on all charges, the pitchers face up to 65 years in prison. Ortiz was arrested in Boston on Sunday morning. Clase has not yet been arrested.<\/p>\n

MLB has a rule that prohibits players from betting on any game they participate in. Breaking the rule makes a player \u201cpermanently ineligible\u201d to play professional baseball. <\/p>\n

The MLB inquiry is ongoing. The league said Sunday it contacted federal investigators at the outset of its investigation and was aware of the indictment, which was replete with descriptions of specific schemes between the two pitchers and bettors. <\/p>\n

Clase often texted a bettor after games to confirm wagers had been placed, the indictment alleges. After the game against the Royals in April, Clase asked the bettor to send the money they won to the Dominican Republic, telling the bettor it was \u201cfor repairs to the country house.\u201d<\/p>\n

The indictment also alleges that Clase used his cellphone during games \u2014 which violates MLB rules \u2014 to communicate about the scheme. During a game against the Cincinnati Reds on May 17, Clase texted Bettor-1 asking if he was \u201cready,\u201d prosecutors said. <\/p>\n

Bettor-1 responded, \u201cOf course.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ten minutes later, according to the indictment, numerous bettors won approximately $10,000 placing bets that a pitch thrown by Clase would be a ball or would hit the batter, and that it would be slower than 97.95 mph.<\/p>\n

Wagers on a specific event or individual performance within a game that does not necessarily depend on the final score have become increasingly popular. Called proposition bets, they allow bettors to focus on often arcane statistical achievements or odd occurrences.<\/p>\n

But prop bets are creating new challenges for authorities investigating illegal betting. According to a federal indictment unsealed in October, NBA player Terry Rozier provided a friend with inside information about his planned early exit from a March 2023 game. The friend placed bets on Rozier underperforming statistically.<\/p>\n

The information was sold for approximately $100,000 to bettors, who placed more than $200,000 in wagers. Rozier was arrested in a sweeping indictment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cleveland Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase and starter Luis Ortiz face federal charges of fraud, bribery and conspiracy for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45823,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[30113,4472,30112,3672,30116,30109,30115,423,11193,348,48,52,51,47,50,49,30114,30110,21949,278,30111],"class_list":{"0":"post-45822","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-11th-save","9":"tag-ball","10":"tag-bettor","11":"tag-cleveland-guardians","12":"tag-dominican-republic","13":"tag-emmanuel-clase","14":"tag-federal-charge","15":"tag-game","16":"tag-indictment","17":"tag-investigation","18":"tag-la","19":"tag-la-headlines","20":"tag-la-news","21":"tag-los-angeles","22":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","23":"tag-los-angeles-news","24":"tag-luis-ortiz","25":"tag-ortiz","26":"tag-pitch","27":"tag-season","28":"tag-strike-zone"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45822\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}