Tony La Russa and Tim Anderson get ejected in the Chicago White Sox’s 7-1 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers: ‘Sometimes if you care about winning, you flare up’

Chicago White Sox reliever Ryan Burr had just issued a bases-loaded walk to Rowdy Tellez in the seventh inning.

Sox manager Tony La Russa made a mound visit, had a discussion with the umpires and got ejected — his first ejection of the season.

Tyrone Taylor followed with a grand slam, part of a six-run inning as the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Sox 7-1 in front of 32,714 on Friday at American Family Field.

“We make it a definite policy that we play against the other team, we do not play against the umpires,” La Russa said. “They have a very difficult job. You get your team to play with emotion, that’s how you succeed and compete, and in a situation like that we got emotional. But if you play nine innings or 8½ innings, a couple of those calls did not decide it.

“But it was important at the time and I was upset because I thought the hitter ducked the pitches. (Luis) Urías (who walked before Tellez) was trying to drive in a run. That’s what I thought from my point. He’s a good hitter and an RBI guy, but he ducked and got away with it. That’s why I was upset. But umpires didn’t decide that game.”

Sox shortstop Tim Anderson got ejected in the top of the eighth as the two first-place teams opened a three-game series.

The Sox issued nine walks, one intentional.

Starter Lucas Giolito pitched well in defeat, allowing one run on six hits with three strikeouts and five walks.

Aaron Bummer replaced Giolito and surrendered a hit and two walks. One run scored on a groundout, and Bummer struck out the next batter.

Burr entered and walked Urías — the final two pitches appeared to be at the top of the strike zone, according to MLB Statcast — loading the bases for Tellez.

“The pitches were there,” La Russa said. “He took a long stride and made them look like they were up. Here again, this guy’s got a reputation for being an RBI guy, so I don’t think he was not trying to drive in the run, but his stride took him under the pitches. I don’t think he did it intentionally, but that was the effect.”

Burr walked Tellez, making it 3-0, and La Russa got tossed.

“I’ve been thrown out a bunch of times in my career, but it’s always because of the emotion of the competition,” La Russa said. “Sometimes you flare up because you care. And I repeat: That’s not our goal to yell at umpires and make them part of why the game is whatever it is that day. It’s not what we do.

“But sometimes if you care about winning, which we do, you flare up. Quite often you flare and the umpires understand that emotion is part of it and they hear with one ear and see with one eye. Sometimes it goes too far. Today it went too far. So I got ejected. I think Tim was probably upset as well.”

The first pitch of Yoán Moncada’s eighth-inning at-bat, called a strike although MLB Statcast had it low out of the zone, was part of the lead-up to Anderson’s ejection.

Sox left fielder Andrew Vaughn homered in the eighth and came within a triple of the cycle. But the ejections — and strong Brewers pitching — were center stage.

“Frustrations got high with the way the game was being called against us,” Giolito said. “I got frustrated a couple times, I just tried not to show it out there. And sometimes it just kind of hits that breaking point, and it hit that breaking point for Tony and Timmy.

“It’s just how it goes sometimes. We play with a lot of emotion on this team. We come out, put our heart and soul in it. And when we feel we’re getting things taken away from us, it’s not going to make us feel good.”

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