White Sox news: Tony La Russa defends controversial intentional walk on 1-2 count

White Sox manager Tony La Russa vehemently defended his decision to intentionally walk Trea Turner on a 1-2 count.

The Chicago White Sox manager Tony La Russa was facing some tough questions following Thursday's 11-9 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. During the 6th inning trailing 7-5, La Russa chose to intentionally walk Trea Turner with first base open and Freddie Freeman on second base. Normally, that sounds like a wise decision with a lefty on the mound. The issue that prompted people to go crazy online was that there were two outs and a 1-2 count.

Max Muncy made the White Sox pay, hitting a three run home run.

After the game, La Russa defended his decision.

Tony La Russa defends his decision to walk Trae Turner on a 1-2 count pic.twitter.com/hyhUQgTtXa

— White Sox Talk (@NBCSWhiteSox) June 9, 2022

“Do you know what he hits against left-handed pitching? With 0-1 or two strikes, you know what he's hitting? Well, do you know what Muncy hits against left-handed pitching with two strikes? Is that really a question, because it was 1-2? Turner was a strike left against a left-hander is not something you can avoid, if you can. We had an open base and Muncy happened to be the guy behind him and that's a better matchup… It wasn't a tough decision,” said La Russa.

There's a lot to unpack there. First, he asked the reporter if they knew what Turner hits against lefties with two strikes. The reporter could not answer the question, but we can. Turner is hitting .258 during his career against lefties in a 1-2 count. Pretty good odds for Chicago to get out of the inning. It begs the question of whether or not he actually knew those stats.

The second half of his statement seemed almost like an incoherent ramble.

Let's not forget you aren't starting the at-bat against Muncy at 1-2. It's a new batter. But just for good measure, Muncy hit the home run with two strikes.

The White Sox dropped to 26-29 and are 5.5 games behind the Minnesota Twins in the AL Central. Chicago entered the season as massive favorites to win the division. If they are unable to turn things around, they might want to look at replacing the Hall of Fame 77-year-old manager.