LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. • A former Cardinals minor-league pitcher says he quit baseball because of homophobic conversations he encountered in the sport, according to a report published Wednesday on Outsports.com.

The Cardinals said they took the allegations "very seriously."

Tyler Dunnington, who is gay, told the website he had not come out yet during his time with the Cardinals, with whom he pitched in 2014.

"I was also one of the unfortunate closeted gay athletes who experienced years of homophobia in the sport I loved," Dunnington wrote in an email to the website, which was included in the news story. "I was able to take most of it with a grain of salt but towards the end of my career I could tell it was affecting my relationships with people, my performance, and my overall happiness.

"I experienced both coaches and players make remarks on killing gay people during my time in baseball, and each comment felt like a knife to my heart," he continued in the email. "I was miserable in a sport that used to give me life, and ultimately I decided I needed to hang up my cleats for my own sanity."

The report cites an unnamed college coach who referenced the 1998 killing of Matthew Shepard.