The Los Angeles Dodgers’ offense, which had been a bit stagnant in the last few games, woke up on Thursday with a 11-9 victory against the Chicago White Sox.
At least a portion of the blame in letting the Dodgers score 11 times shall go to White Sox manager Tony La Russa.
In the sixth inning, with the Dodgers leading 7-5, a runner on second and two outs, the White Sox had a left-hander on the mound against Trea Turner.
Bennett Sousa, the pitcher in question, had Turner on a 1-2 count before La Russa inexplicably had him intentionally walk the hitter to face the lefty-hitting Max Muncy.
The skipper made a weird decision: yes, he would have the platoon advantage on the mound, but he already had the hitter on a two-strike count, where they are extremely vulnerable.
Muncy then proceeded to hit a three-run home run that made La Russa pay for his mistake.
The Power Of Information
La Russa probably didn’t know about a crucial stat that actually gave Muncy the advantage in his matchup against Sousa.
“Highest career slugging percentage, active left-handed batters vs. left-handed pitchers: MAX MUNCY, .499; Juan Soto, .482; Shohei Ohtani, .478; Joey Gallo, .471; Matt Olson, .471; Corey Seager, .469; Charlie Blackmon, .468; Bryce Harper, .465; Joey Votto, .465,” Codify Baseball tweeted.
Highest career slugging percentage,
active left-handed batters vs. left-handed pitchers:MAX MUNCY, .499 👀
Juan Soto, .482
Shohei Ohtani, .478
Joey Gallo, .471
Matt Olson, .471
Corey Seager, .469
Charlie Blackmon, .468
Bryce Harper, .465
Joey Votto, .465 https://t.co/rMz4keev3n— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) June 10, 2022
That’s the kind of matchup data a forward-thinking organization has at hand.
La Russa has made enormous contributions to the game over the years, winning multiple World Series, but he has proven time and time again that today’s game may be a bit overwhelming for him.
He opted to ignore the fact he had a hitter on two strikes and faced the lefty-hitting batter with the highest slugging percentage against southpaws.
It was costly, and everybody knows it.
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