SI

Lance McCullers Jr. and His Family Received Death Threats Amid Tough Astros Outing

The Astros reportedly notified both the Houston Police Department and MLB's security team.

Tim Capurso

McCullers Jr. allowed seven earned runs in just his second start since the 2022 World Series.
McCullers Jr. allowed seven earned runs in just his second start since the 2022 World Series. / Troy Taormina-Imagn Images
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Houston Astros starting pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. and his family received death threats during his start in Houston's 13-9 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday. McCullers Jr., making just his second start since the 2022 World Series after experiencing injury troubles, surrendered seven earned runs and failed to make it out of the top of the first inning.

"I understand people are very passionate and people love the Astros and love sports, but threatening to find my kids and murder them is a little bit tough to deal with," McCullers told reporters after the game. "So just as a father, I think there have been many, many threats over the years aimed at me, mostly, and I think actually one or two people from other issues around baseball actually had to go to jail for things like that.

"But I think bringing kids into the equation, threatening to find them or next time they see us in public they're going to stab my kids to death, things like that, it's tough to hear as a dad."

McCullers Jr. and his wife Kara, active and charitable members of the Houston community, have two young daughters. An irate Joe Espada, the Astros manager, began his postgame news conference by addressing the death threats McCullers Jr. received.

"I wanna start [by] saying something. I just left my office and it's very unfortunate that there are people that are threatening his life and the life of his kids because of his performance," Espada said. "It's very unfortunate that we have to deal with this. After all he's done for this city, for this team—the fact that we have to talk about this in my office.

"I got kids too—and it really drives me nuts that we have to deal with this. Very sad. Very, very sad."

The Astros notified both the Houston Police Department and MLB's security team of the death threats, according to Chandler Rome of The Athletic.

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Tim Capurso
TIM CAPURSO

Tim Capurso is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Prior to joining SI in November 2023, he wrote for RotoBaller and ClutchPoints, where he was the lead editor for MLB, college football and NFL coverage. A lifelong Yankees and Giants fan, Capurso grew up just outside New York City and now lives near Philadelphia. When he's not writing, he enjoys reading, exercising and spending time with his family, including his three-legged cat Willow, who, unfortunately, is an Eagles fan.

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