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Tony La Russa Says Astros Have ‘Character Shortage’ After Late-Game Plunking

In Wednesday’s Hot Clicks: a strange complaint from the manager of the White Sox, the first goal in Kraken history and more.

Dan Gartland

Tony La Russa Says Astros Have ‘Character Shortage’ After Late-Game Plunking
Tony La Russa Says Astros Have ‘Character Shortage’ After Late-Game Plunking /

There’s no way this was intentional, right?

White Sox manager Tony La Russa didn’t go away quietly after Chicago was eliminated from the playoffs Tuesday.

The Astros blew out the Sox in Game 4, 10–1, to advance to their fifth straight ALCS. The game wasn’t close, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t fireworks. In the bottom of the eighth, with Houston up 7–1, Kendall Graveman hit White Sox slugger José Abreu on the upper arm with a fastball. La Russa was irate. He stormed out of the dugout and complained to the umpires that it was the second time in as many games that Abreu had been hit by a pitch.

Nothing about the pitch, which came on a full count with two outs in the inning, indicated that it was intentional. Why waste six pitches before hitting the guy? And, even if you’re leading by six runs with four outs left, it’s a bad idea to give the opposing team a free baserunner in a playoff game. Plus, Graveman’s control was off during the entire plate appearance. Not a single one of the seven pitches he threw to Abreu caught the zone.

But La Russa was convinced that the Astros were targeting Abreu.

“That stuff there in the eighth inning, it just leaves a bitter taste in your mouth and in my gut,” La Russa told reporters after the game. “That’s just—there’s a character shortage there that they should answer for. Stupid, too. I’ll be interested to see if they admit it. If they don't admit it, then they’re really dishonest.”

La Russa didn’t say why he thought Houston was going after Abreu, but he did say he thought Graveman should have been ejected earlier in the at bat after throwing two other pitches high and tight.

“It will be a good test of the character and credibility of the winning team because it was intentional,” he said. “I’ll be really curious. They should have the guts to admit that they did it, why they did it, I have no reason to understand. ... That was intentional. I don’t understand why. I don’t understand how they got away with it.”

La Russa isn’t the first member of the White Sox to throw unfounded accusations the Astros’ way during this series. After the White Sox won Game 3 in Chicago, reliever Ryan Tepera insinuated that his team had a bigger advantage away from Minute Maid Park because the Astros have “had a reputation of doing some sketchy stuff over there,” referring, of course, to the sign-stealing scandal. Carlos Correa said after Game 4 that Tepera’s comments were “disrespectful words with no facts.”

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Dan Gartland
DAN GARTLAND

Dan Gartland is the writer and editor of Sports Illustrated’s flagship daily newsletter, SI:AM, covering everything an educated sports fan needs to know. He joined the SI staff in 2014, having previously been published on Deadspin and Slate. Gartland, a graduate of Fordham University, is a former Sports Jeopardy! champion (Season 1, Episode 5).

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