Angels manager Joe Maddon made the call.
Texas Rangers’ top hitter Corey Seager got quite the compliment Friday night when the Los Angeles Angels opted to walk the 27-year-old shortstop with the bases loaded in the fourth inning.
Announcers noted that Seager got the “Barry Bonds treatment” when Angels manager Joe Maddon made the intentional walk call with the bases loaded, just the third time that’s happened in the majors since at least 1950.
“I thought by walking Seager there, of course, just trying to stay out of a big blow,” Maddon said with the Rangers leading 3-2 at the time of the call. “And also just to stir the group up, quite frankly.
“I walked out there and looked at (Austin 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,” Maddon explained.
Warren said he was surprised but admitted, “I’m not going to tell Joe Maddon no.”
Seager joined Barry Bonds in 1998 and Josh Hamilton in 2008 in being given first base with the bases full. Maddon also made the call for Hamilton when he was managing the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Rangers still took advantage, scoring five runs in the fourth inning before the Angels could answer in the fifth. Shohei Ohtani homered twice to lead Los Angeles past the Rangers 9-6.
