Chicago White Sox manager Tony La Russa accused the Detroit Tigers of being hypocritical on Jose Abreu’s slide after they hit him with a pitch.
Things got chippy in Monday’s game between the White Sox and Tigers, resulting in a benches-clearing brawl.
After the dust cleared and Chicago got their 8-7 victory, manager Tony La Russa had words for the Tigers.
Tony La Russa threw shade over the Tigers White Sox brawl
“It seems like they have issues when someone plays aggressively but not when they pitch aggressively and beyond the limits,” La Russa said per Jesse Rogers of ESPN.
La Russa is talking about the incidents that sparked the brawl. In the top of the ninth, Alex Lange hit Abreu.
Lange said after the game it wasn’t malicious, especially given the circumstances of the game.
Whether it was intentional, the pitch was inside and made contact.
It seemed to fire up Abreu, who later aggressively slid into second base and was tagged out. Detroit took offense to Abreu’s slide and the benches emptied.
“I was surprised he went in that hard and that late. I don’t agree with it. This whole team stands up for our guys out there,” Lange said per Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic.
For La Russa, the Tigers can’t complain about someone running the bases on the edge when their pitcher was throwing on the edge.
It’s a regular baseball Rorschach test. Were the Tigers in the wrong? Was Abreu? It all depends on which way you look at it.