Astros condemn tweet from minor leaguer criticizing female broadcaster

FILE - This March 25, 2009 file photo shows Olympic softball medalist Jessica Mendoza, of the United States, smiling during the 2009 SportAccord gathering in Denver. Mendoza will stay permanently on “Sunday Night Baseball” in a groundbreaking assignment for a woman calling men’s sports. ESPN says the retired softball star will work the games this season alongside another new analyst, Aaron Boone, in place of Curt Schilling and John Kruk. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey, file)

HOUSTON — The Astros say they "do not condone" a tweet posted by one of their minor league infielders criticizing broadcaster Jessica Mendoza during ESPN’s NL wild-card broadcast.

Screen grabs of the tweet Wednesday night showed second baseman Brooks Marlow wrote "no lady needs to be on espn talking during a baseball game specially Mendoza sorry." The tweet was deleted from Marlow’s account.

The Astros said in a statement that they have spoken with Marlow and he "agreed that his tweet was inappropriate and insensitive and has apologized." The team also apologized to Mendoza, calling her "an outstanding broadcaster that we have had the pleasure of working with this season."

Mendoza, a former professional softball player, began broadcasting games for ESPN last year. She’s a member of ESPN’s "Sunday Night Baseball" broadcast team and the most prominent woman calling national games in a male sport.

Marlow was a 29th-round pick in 2015 after playing at Texas. He split this season between Class A affiliates Quad Cities and Lancaster.

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