![]() He felt slighted as he came to the plate. No one, however, reacted quite like Muncy. “Is there some question about whether that was a good move or not?” La Russa asked reporters rhetorically. La Russa vehemently defended the decision postgame, saying that, even with Turner in a two-strike count, he believed a lefty-lefty matchup against Muncy was the better play. Turner was so stunned, he later joked, “I didn’t know if I should go to first or not.” Turner was preparing to step back in the box when, to the surprise of almost everyone except the Hall of Fame manager himself, La Russa stuck up his arm and put four fingers in the air.įreeman, standing at second, looked around in confusion. Turner fell behind 0-and-2 against left-handed reliever Bennett Sousa, but then Sousa threw a wild pitch that allowed Freeman to advance to second. ![]() With the Dodgers leading 7-5 in the sixth, Turner came to the plate with Freeman at first. It wouldn’t be La Russa’s last controversial decision. The result: a two-run double Muncy lined to left-center field, putting the Dodgers (37-20) in front for the first time. Though White Sox right-hander Dylan Cease had thrown 100 pitches, including almost 40 in the fifth inning, La Russa left him in to face Muncy with two on and two out. (Charles Rex Arbogast / Associated Press) The Dodgers, once down 4-0 after Tyler Anderson’s bumpy three-inning start, had gotten back within one on a two-run double from Freddie Freeman (who had three hits and three RBIs) and run-scoring infield single from Turner.ĭodgers shortstop Trea Turner hits an RBI single off Chicago White Sox pitcher Dylan Cease in the fifth inning Thursday. Then, he proceeded to have a vintage performance that keyed the Dodgers' rubber-match win.Īfter striking out in his first two at-bats, Muncy came up at a crucial point in the fifth. When he returned to the clubhouse Thursday, he said he felt like everything had improved, from his physical health to his refreshed mental space. And they waited to bring him back until he felt he was in a place to be productive again. ![]() ![]() They sent him out for a minor-league rehabilitation stint. So, when Muncy experienced a flare-up in his elbow last month, the Dodgers saw it as a chance to give him a fresh start. “There were some things physically that he had to deal with,” manager Dave Roberts said, “which then got to be a little bit mental.” The exasperating grind of his worst stretch as a Dodger also appeared to mentally be wearing him out. He wasn’t just battling issues with his left elbow, in which he had suffered a torn ligament at the end of last season. Most of all, the fierce competitiveness that had defined the 31-year-old’s midcareer revival had seemed to be blanketed by hesitancy and doubt. A two-time All-Star known for his ability to get on base was batting a major-league worst. “Because I think it got us Max Muncy back.”ĭuring the first two months of the season, the old Muncy had been nowhere to be found.Ī slugger with three 35-homer seasons in the last four years had hit only three in his first 41 games of 2022. “I’m glad they did it,” teammate Freddie Freeman said with a smirk. The fiery infielder might also have rediscovered part of his old self in the process. In a cathartic, emotional and perhaps season-altering sequence that followed, Muncy not only made La Russa pay by crushing a three-run home run, giving him five RBIs in the Dodgers’ 11-9 win. In a stunning, unexpected and inexplicable piece of decision-making, La Russa decided to not only intentionally walk Dodgers shortstop Trea Turner with Muncy on deck, but do it in a 1-and-2 count after a wild pitch opened up first base. Max Muncy believed he was in a much better place Thursday.ĭuring the sixth inning, Chicago White Sox manager Tony La Russa dared him to prove it.
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