Report: Luis Ortiz gambling investigation focused on two specific pitches

Main League Baseball is investigating Cleveland Guardians pitcher Luis Ortiz over allegations associated to playing, and a few new details about the probe has emerged.

Ortiz on Thursday was positioned on what MLB referred to as “non-disciplinary paid leave” via at the very least the All-Star break, which ends on July 18. Whereas the league didn’t share any particulars, experiences have since revealed that the investigation pertains to gambling.

In accordance with ESPN’s Jeff Passan, a betting-integrity agency flagged two different pitches from Ortiz final month that acquired uncommon playing exercise. The agency, IC360, despatched two alerts to sportsbooks in June concerning Ortiz.

The primary alert was triggered by wagers positioned on whether or not Ortiz’s first pitch of the underside of the second inning of Cleveland’s June 15 residence sport in opposition to the Seattle Mariners would end in a ball or hit batsman. The pitch was a slider effectively outdoors the strike zone that was referred to as a ball.

The second alert stemmed from the identical sort of wagering exercise on Ortiz’s first pitch of the third inning within the Guardians’ June 27 highway sport in opposition to the St. Louis Cardinals. That pitch was additionally a slider effectively outdoors the strike zone.

The alerts flagged bets at sportsbooks in Ohio, New York and New Jersey, Passan experiences.

Ortiz was scheduled to start out for Cleveland in Thursday evening’s sport in opposition to the Chicago Cubs. He can be changed by left-hander Joey Cantillo, who has made 21 appearances out of the bullpen this season.

Ortiz, 26, spent the primary three seasons of his profession with the Pittsburgh Pirates earlier than being traded to the Guardians final winter. He’s 4-9 with a 4.36 ERA in 16 begins this season.

MLB has a zero-tolerance coverage on the subject of playing on baseball. Final yr, San Diego Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano was banned from MLB for all times after an investigation revealed he placed tens of thousands of dollars in MLB-related wagers. Not lengthy after that, an umpire was fired over a different gambling probe.

Ortiz’s paid depart was an settlement between MLB and the MLB Gamers Affiliation and will probably be prolonged, relying on how lengthy the investigation takes.