La Russa’s intentional walk perplexes Dodgers, baseball world

Tony La Russa made one of the oddest calls that a baseball manager could make on Thursday afternoon.

La Russa’s Chicago White Sox were hosting the Los Angeles Dodgers, and with two outs in the top of the sixth, and the Dodgers leading 7-5, there was a 1-2 count on Trea Turner.

At that point, La Russa decided to intentionally walk Turner to put runners on first and second. That brought Max Muncy to the plate.

Muncy, who was activated off the injured list before Thursday’s game, proceeded to hit a three-run bomb to opposite field.

Probably the best part of the situation was the disbelief in the stadium.

Take a look at and listen to the video below. Freddie Freeman appears to be shocked on second base, the announcers attempt to make sense of the decision, and a fan yells from the stands, “Tony, what are you doing? He has two strikes!”

With the Muncy homer, a two-run lead quickly became a five-run lead and the Dodgers held on for an 11-9 win. Muncy finished the game 2-for-5 with five RBIs.

Muncy surely didn’t understand the move, and was also offended by it.

La Russa addressed the decision during his post-game press conference.

“Turner with no strikes, one strike or two strikes, is very dangerous against right and especially against left,” La Russa said. “Now, if (Will) Smith was hitting behind him, it would have been a different thing, but Muncy is there. 

“It’s an easy call. It’s an easy call for me.”

As odd as the move was, the explanation might have been even more interesting. 

The White Sox now sit at 26-29 and have lost eight of their last 12 games, while the Dodgers moved to 37-20, taking two out of three off of Chicago in the series.