Cleveland Indians pitcher, family reportedly receive death threats after tough loss: 'Absolutely inexcusable'

CLEVELAND (WJW) — The baseball team soon to be called the Cleveland Guardians lost to the Tampa Bay Rays Friday night, prompting angry fans to send death threats to pitcher Nick Wittgren, his wife has said.

Going into the ninth inning, the score was tied 4-4, but when Wittgren took to the mound, things fell apart quickly and the Rays scored six runs. The final score was 10-5.

According to Wittgren's wife Ashley, the pitcher has received death threats since the game's conclusion. The threats have even been aimed at the pitcher's kids, Ashley said in a recent Twitter post.

I don’t know what the worst part about it is—that this isn’t the first time, that this won’t be the last time, or that other families in sports ALSO receive these regularly.

— Ashley Wittgren, MS CSCS (@ashleyecrosby) July 24, 2021

To be clear, the game was a regular season Friday night game and the Indians are currently still about .500.

This is certainly not the first time derogatory/threatening social media commentary has been made against Cleveland players this year. Back in April, first baseman Yu Chang was on the receiving end of racist tweets after making a costly error during a game.

The ballclub's office has been contacted for comment about the latest incident.