Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz called 'cheaters' as gambling case opening statements begin in court
Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz were in a Brooklyn court on Wednesday during opening statements in their gambling case.
The relievers are accused of rigging their own pitches during games to benefit bettors. Both have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy charges and are on non-disciplinary leave from the club without pay while facing prosecution. They were arrested in November 2025 and have been free on bail since.
The pitchers were described by Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca Urquiola Wednesday as "cheaters" during opening statements , and she said they "sold their pitches."
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Urquiola said Clase befriended a sports betting gambler in the Dominican Republic in early 2023 who shared his interest in dominoes and cockfighting, which is legal in his home country.
She said Clase saw gamblers profiting from his pitches and "decided it wasn't enough to help his friends make money," so he asked for kickbacks.
Clase eventually agreed to tell "his new friend" what kinds of pitches he would throw in certain games, enabling gamblers to reap at least $460,000 on platforms that allow customers to bet on whether a pitch would be a ball or a strike, she said.
Defense lawyers, however, said their clients were innocent and that a gambler who befriended Clase falsely claimed to other gamblers that the pitcher was providing inside information on his pitches and tried to sell them the information.
He said Clase was 25 in the spring of 2023 when he met a 41-year-old gambler, Enoc Pena, who made over 7,000 bets from 2023 to 2025 and had a history of lying to get what he wanted.
Pena "didn't see a peer, a friend. He saw a mark," Bronson said.
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Soon Pena was bringing Clase food and picking him up at the airport in the Dominican Republic, the lawyer said. The pitcher, in turn, gave him tickets to Guardians games and loaned him money.
As Pena bragged to fellow gamblers that he was close to Clase and tried to sell them information, he was actually guessing which pitches Clase would throw in games and managed with fellow gamblers to lose over 200 bets on Clase's pitches, the lawyer said. Pena was "selling lies," Bronson said, urging jurors to ask themselves if his client would risk "a fortune and his lifelong dream over a few thousand dollars."
Bettors allegedly won $400,000 from betting platforms on pitches thrown by Clase between 2023 and 2025. Ortiz allegedly joined the scheme in June 2025.
In one instance, the indictment alleges, Clase used his phone in the middle of a game to coordinate with a bettor on a pitch he would throw.
Clase turned himself into arguably the game's best closer, pitching to a 1.21 ERA in his last full season in 2024, which was good for a third-place finish in the American League Cy Young Award vote. His 2025 ERA was 3.80 by the time he was investigated. Ortiz boasts a lifetime 4.36 ERA, with his best season also coming in 2024 with a 3.32 ERA.
Clase inked a five-year, $20 million deal just before opening day in 2022, a few months after finishing fifth in the AL Rookie of the Year voting. Ortiz was making the veteran minimum of $782,600 last season because he was not yet arbitration eligible.
OutKick’s Ryan Gaydos, Jackson Thompson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.