The Los Angeles Dodgers’ offense rebounded with 11 runs as they defeated the Chicago White Sox in the rubber match on Thursday, but it was managerial decision by Tony La Russa that confused fans and players alike.
In the top of the sixth inning with two outs the Dodgers ahead 7-5, relief pitcher Bennett Sousa intentionally walked Trea Turner to put two on for Max Muncy. While that would normally be an acceptable decision, La Russa made the decision when Turner was already in a 1-2 count.
That decision quickly backfired as Muncy lined a three-run home run to left field and shouted expletives as he was crossing home plate, appearing to take offense to La Russa’s decision.
While fans questioned the move off the field, players on the field also couldn’t believe what they saw, including Freddie Freeman, via Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“I thought I had the wrong count,” Freeman said.
The move also created confusion for Turner, who wasn’t convinced La Russa was seriously issuing him a free base in a 1-2 count. However, he eventually ended up taking first before coming around to score on Muncy’s homer:
“I was just confused,” Turner said. “I didn’t know if I should go to first or not. But I guess they liked the matchup.”
After the game, La Russa defended the move and called it a no-brainer decision, but the data doesn’t back that up. In their careers, Turner has hit .229/.245/.375 in 1-2 counts against left-handed pitchers and Muncy has hit .252/.366/.499 against southpaws overall.
While it is fair to say Muncy isn’t that player in his current form, his 2022 on-base plus slugging percentage is .590 overall and .450 against lefties, which is close enough to Turner’s in that situation (.620) where it makes no sense to give the Dodgers an extra base runner and reset the count.
Even if the decision was based purely on Muncy’s 2022 stats and doesn’t take into account his career, La Russa effectively made the decision to walk Billy Hamilton (.620 OPS last year) in a two-strike count to get to JaCoby Jones (.460 OPS last year) with a fresh count and an extra runner on. There is no real upside that can come from that decision.
AJ Pollock holds no hard feelings toward Dodgers
One week before Opening Day, the Dodgers traded AJ Pollock to the White Sox for Craig Kimbrel. The eight-time All-Star gave L.A. a clear replacement for Kenley Jansen and further bolstered a deep bullpen.
However, in trading Pollock, the Dodgers parted with one of their more productive position players. The move also took a right-handed hitter out of a lineup that already was left-handed heavy.
After facing the Dodgers for the first time since being traded, Pollock said he doesn’t harbor any sort of resentment toward his former club.
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