Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona. Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Terry Francona lashes out at racist abuse directed at Cleveland's Yu Chang

By Zac Wassink | Last updated Apr 13, 2021 7:59 PM ET

Cleveland Indians infielder Yu Chang committed a costly throwing error that allowed the Chicago White Sox to tally the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning of Monday's 4-3 Chicago win. Early Tuesday morning, Chang shared abhorrent anti-Asian slurs and insults directed his way via social media following the loss.

Manager Terry Francona defended his player and also hit out at the guilty parties when speaking with reporters ahead of Tuesday's showdown in Chicago.

"Errors are part of the game," Francona explained, per Joe Noga of Cleveland.com. "But ignorance and racism, they shouldn’t be anywhere."

Terry Francona's response to racist messages sent to Yu Chang after last night's game in Chicago. @wkyc @WKYCSports pic.twitter.com/5Of3RfbeDB
— David Kinder II (@davidkinderii) April 13, 2021

Francona added:

"Those comments, they have nothing to do with baseball. Whether a play’s being made or not, they’re just an excuse for somebody to be stupid and ignorant. That’s really what it is."

Cleveland also tweeted a message of support with the hashtag "#StopAsianHate":

Our team and our organization stand together in support of Yu and condemn hatred in all forms. We got your back @YutheSouljaBoy! #StopAsianHate pic.twitter.com/ZbrfrcD2N0
— Cleveland Indians (@Indians) April 13, 2021

"I wanted to check on Yu, make sure he’s OK and make sure that he understands that what was the lunacy, or the idiocy of what was said is not shared by hopefully very many people, certainly not in the Indians organization," Francona said. "He’s an extremely mature young man and he’s fine."

Famous Asian athletes, such as Tottenham Hotspur superstar Son Heung-min, have received increased amounts of online racist abuse throughout the COVID-19 pandemic:

Another matchday and more abhorrent racial abuse suffered by one of our players. This has again been reported to the platforms and we shall now undertake a full review alongside the Premier League to determine the most effective action moving forward.

We stand with you, Sonny. pic.twitter.com/fNBpSykJJo
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) April 11, 2021

Former NBA star Jeremy Lin was called "coronavirus" during a G League contest in February.

Zac Wassink

Zac Wassink is a longtime sports news writer and PFWA member who began his career in 2006 and has had his work featured on Yardbarker, MSN, Yahoo Sports and Bleacher Report. He is also a football and futbol aficionado who is probably yelling about Tottenham Hotspur at the moment and who chanted for Matt Harvey to start the ninth inning of Game 5 of the 2015 World Series at Citi Field. You can find him on X at @ZacWassink

More must-reads: