Red Sox reliever Liam Hendriks responded to the comments and threats he received on social media after Boston’s loss to the New York Mets on Wednesday.
Fans pinned the 5-1 defeat on Hendriks, who relieved Garrett Crochet in the sixth inning. Despite striking out two batters with the score tied at 1-1 to get out of the sixth, Hendriks gave up three straight hits without recording an out in the seventh — all of which led to the Mets piling on the lead.
On Thursday, Hendriks took to Instagram to lash out at the “disgusting” response from fans.
“Just as an FYI: Threats against my life and my wife’s life are horrible and cruel,” Hendriks wrote in an Instagram story. “You need help. Leaving comments to tell me to commit suicide and how you wish I died of cancer is disgusting and vile.
“Maybe you should take a step back and reevaluate your life’s purpose before hiding behind a screen attacking players and their family,” he continued. “Whether you do it from your ‘fake accounts’ or are dumb enough to do it from your real account. I think I speak for all players who have had to deal with this in their career when I say: Enough is enough.”
The 14-year veteran’s response alluded to him sitting out in 2024 while recovering from Tommy John surgery after his battle with non-Hodgkin lymphoma cost him most of the 2023 season.
Hendriks is not the only MLB player to receive threatening messages from fans in recent weeks. Earlier this month, Astros pitcher Lance McCullers addressed fans threatening his children after a tough outing against the Cincinnati Reds. Houston police launched an investigation into the threats.
McMuller’s comments were in the same vein:
“It’s been a tough evening. 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.
“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 gonna stab my kids to death, things like that, it’s tough to hear as a dad.”
Hendriks joined the Red Sox this season after stints in Minnesota, Toronto, Kansas City, Oakland and Chicago with the White Sox. Since arriving in Boston, the 36-year-old has struggled, throwing 11.1 innings with a 5.56 ERA over his 11 appearances for the Red Sox.
Boston sits third in the American League East with a 25-26 record.
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