Sports Betting Arrests Baseball

Jurors have heard opening statements at the fraud conspiracy trial of Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz in a New York federal court. A prosecutor, Rebecca Urquiola, told jurors Wednesday that the government will prove that Clase and Ortiz agreed to tip off sports betting gamblers so they could bet that several pitches thrown between 2023 and 2025 would be balls or strikes — or high or low. Clase is the Guardians’ former closer and Ortiz, a starter. Both have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy charges. Their lawyers told jurors that gamblers lied about their clients.