(670 The Score) White Sox manager Tony La Russa was irate when star first baseman Jose Abreu got hit on the shoulder by Astros reliever Kendall Graveman late as Chicago was getting blown out and eventually eliminated by Houston in Game 4 of their American League Division Series at Guaranteed Rate Field on Tuesday afternoon.
Afterward, La Russa was still livid, accusing the Astros of intentionally hitting Abreu. While he wasn’t ejected, La Russa blew up on the umpires after Graveman hit Abreu with a 3-2 pitch and two outs in the bottom of the eighth as Houston led 7-1 in its eventual 10-1 victory. The umpires gave each team a warning after the plunking of Abreu, who was hit by 22 pitches in the regular season.
“Well I questioned after they threw three pitches in there, they should’ve just ejected him,” La Russa said. “It will be a good test of the character and credibility of the winning team – because it was intentional. The catcher kept looking in the dugout. So they hit him intentionally. And 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.
“They beat us. They played better … but that was intentional. I don’t understand why. I don’t understand how they got away with it.”
An the end of his press conference, La Russa added another comment just before leaving the podium.
"The stuff there in the eighth inning was just -- just leaves a bitter taste in your mouth and in my gut," he said. "That's just -- there's a character shortage there that they should answer for. It is stupid too.
"Anything else? I'll be interested to see if they admit it. If they don't admit it, then they're really dishonest."
The Astros won the best-of-five series 3-1. After Chicago's lone win in the series Sunday night, reliever Ryan Tepera implied Houston was stealing signs, an accusation that irked the Astros.