Astros' McCullers receives threats of murder that are directed against his children after a hard start

Houston – Houston Pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. said he received against the Cincinnati Reds online murder threats after his hard start on Saturday evening.

McCullers, who only started his second start since game 3 of the World Series 2022, allowed seven runs and only got one in Houston's 13: 9 defeat.

Afterwards McCullers said that he had received the threats on social media.

“I understand that people are very passionate and love people who love Astros and love sports, but it is a bit difficult to find my children and murder them,” he said. “So, like a father, I think there have been many, many threats over the years that mostly focused on me, and I think in fact, one or two people from other topics about baseball actually had to go into prison to do things like that.

The Astros said that the Houston and MLB security police had been made aware of the threats.

McCullers and his wife Kara have two young daughters.

Joe Espada, a visibly annoyed manager, spoke at his press conference after the game and added that they also threatened the life of the pitcher.

“There are people who threaten his life and life of his children because of his performance,” said Espada. “It is very unfortunate that we have to deal with it. After all, he did the fact for his team, the fact that we have to talk about it in my office – I also have children and it really drives me crazy that we have to deal with it. Very sad, very, very sad.”

McCullers, who had numerous injuries who held him off the field from the field in the past seasons, said it was difficult to have to deal with threats to return on the hill.

“If you fail, they fail on a very large stage (with) many eyes and there is nowhere to hide,” he said. “At the end of the day I just want to do my job. I just want to be a good pitcher for the astros and I think I will arrive there, but as I said, I just think that I have to worry about leaving the city and leaving the city and leaving it at school or giving it up at school, I just think there should be a kind of decency.”