Angels intentionally walk Rangers shortstop Corey Seager with the bases loaded
Usually when you're a professional baseball team and your opponent has the bases loaded in the fourth inning of a game, you want to do whatever it takes to not give up a run.
Well, that is, unless you're Joe Maddon and the Los Angeles Angels. Because if you're them you apparently just let the other team score a run. In fact, you make sure they score a run by doing one of the strangest things a team could do in that situation: intentionally walk a hitter with the bases loaded.
That's what they did Friday night when they opted to intentionally walk Texas Rangers shortstop Corey Seager with the bases loaded in the bottom of the fourth inning.
For real.
Are you kidding me?!
The decision to walk Seager didn't really work out for the Angels, either. In addition to the run they conceded walking Seager, they gave up two more runs in the inning, on a sacrifice fly and a balk, as the Rangers scored five total runs in the frame.
The Angels' offense mounted a response in the top of the next frame, though, scoring five runs of their own to take a 7-6 lead. Despite the head-scratching decision to walk Seager, in the end the Angels walked away with a 9-6 victory.
“I thought by walking Seager there, of course, just trying to stay out of a big blow,” Maddon said postgame. “And also just to stir the group up, quite frankly.
“I walked out there and looked at (Warren). I said, ‘How ‘bout …’ and then he kind of said, ‘Putting him on.’ I said, ‘Yeah, how ‘bout putting him on?’ And he kind of smiled. And then the infielders kind of dug it, too.”
Contributing: Associated Press