New York Mets Pitcher Marcus Stroman had a fairly decent outing against the Arizona Diamondbacks on June 1. In six innings of work, he gave up seven hits and three runs. Ultimately, his team earned a 7-6 victory against the Diamondbacks and extended their lead in the National League East division to 4.5 games. Unfortunately, most of the attention was not steered toward his play. Instead, much of the post-game attention was given to comments made about Arizona Diamondbacks announcer Bob Brenly.
On Tuesday, Marcus Stroman took the mound in hopes of preserving his team's two-run lead in the bottom of the fourth inning. While pitching to Josh Reddick of the Diamondbacks, Stroman wore a durag under his baseball cap. Former Diamondbacks manager and current Arizona broadcaster Bob Brenly felt it was acceptable to make an "insensitive" joke about Stroman's attire.
“Pretty sure that’s the same do-rag that Tom Seaver used to wear when he pitched for the Mets," he said.
At the time the comment was made, his co-host ignored him and shifted the conversation toward a different topic. However, Brenly's comment made its way to Stroman's Twitter feed. In response, Stroman also chose to ignore Brenly's comments and move forward.
“Onward and upward...through all adversity and racist undertones. The climb continues through all," he tweeted.
“Those who talk down on you are already beneath you,” he added hours later.
After Stroman issued a tweet in response to Brenly's comments, Brenly issued a statement as well. In his statement, he called his remarks "insensitive" and apologized to Stroman
“During last night’s game, I made a poor attempt at humor that was insensitive and wrong,” Brenly said.
“I apologize to Marcus Stroman and have reached out directly to share those thoughts.”
The Mets will travel to San Diego for a Thursday showdown against the Padres. Elsewhere, the Diamondbacks will travel to Milwaukee to take on the Brewers on Thursday evening.
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