Pitch-Rigging Gambling Trial Opens: Federal Prosecutor Calls Clase and Ortiz 'Cheaters' Who 'Sold Their Pitches'

Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz were in a Brooklyn court on Wednesday during opening statements in their gambling case. The two are accused of rigging their own pitches during games to benefit bettors.

Both have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy charges. While facing prosecution, they are on non-disciplinary leave from the club without pay. They were arrested in November 2025 and have been free on bail since.

In her opening statement, Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca Urquiola on Wednesday described the two pitchers as 'cheaters' and said they 'sold their pitches.'

Urquiola said Clase befriended a sports betting gambler in the Dominican Republic in early 2023; the two shared an interest in dominoes and cockfighting, which is legal in his home country.

According to the prosecutor, Clase saw gamblers profiting from his pitches and decided it was not enough to help his friends make money — he asked for kickbacks. Clase then 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.

Defense lawyers, however, said their clients were innocent. They argued that a gambler who befriended Clase falsely claimed to other gamblers that the pitcher was providing inside information, and tried to sell them that information.

Defense lawyer Bronson said Clase was 25 in the spring of 2023 when he met 41-year-old gambler Enoc Pena. Pena made over 7,000 bets from 2023 to 2025 and had a history of lying to get what he wanted.

Bronson said Pena 'didn't see a peer, a friend. He saw a mark.' Pena brought Clase food and picked him up at the airport in the Dominican Republic; in return, the pitcher gave him tickets to Guardians games and loaned him money.

According to the defense, 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, and together with fellow gamblers lost over 200 bets on Clase's pitches. Pena was 'selling lies,' Bronson said, urging jurors to ask themselves whether his client would risk a fortune and his lifelong dream over a few thousand dollars.

According to the indictment, Ortiz 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, 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. He signed a five-year, $20 million deal just before opening day in 2022. Ortiz, by contrast, has a lifetime 4.36 ERA, with his best season also coming in 2024 at 3.32, and was making the veteran minimum of $782,600 last season because he was not yet arbitration eligible.