Ron Washington's departure for the Los Angeles Angels has been tough for Atlanta Braves fans to deal with ever since he agreed to become the Halos' manager, but Braves fans miss him now more than ever, after what just transpired in Thursday's game against the Washington Nationals. Washington's replacement as the Braves' third base coach, Matt Tuiasosopo, controversially sent Austin Riley on a play that wasn't even particularly close at the plate.
Instead of the Braves having runners on second and third with one out in the top of the ninth with the game tied, they had a runner at second base with two outs. There's no way of knowing what would've happened had Tuiasosopo simply held Riley at third base, but their odds of winning this game took a major hit from this blunder. Sure enough, the Nationals won the game in extra innings, turning what first looked like an exciting win into a heartbreaking loss.
It's safe to say Braves fans have had enough of Tuiasosopo given how they're reacting on social media.
Braves fans miss Ron Washington more than ever after unforgivable blunder by replacement
Austin Riley is a fantastic player, and he's a lot faster than MLB fans give him credit for, but this play wasn't close. To be fair, it did take a near-perfect relay to make this play appear as brutal as it was, but there's no real justification for Tuiasosopo to have pushed the envelope like this, especially with Marcell Ozuna on deck. It might've taken Rickey Henderson for the Braves to have scored the go-ahead run on that play.
Ozuna might not be having the best power year of his career, but he's been getting on base at an absurd clip, and felt like a sure bet to, at the very least, put the ball into play. Now, he did foul out, but if Riley was held at third, he might have been pitched to differently. Ultimately, we'll never know.
Unfortunately, this isn't Tuiasosopo's first brutal send of the year, or even of the week. The series prior to this, Alex Verdugo was thrown out on arguably an even worse send. Ironically enough, Olson was the batter in both instances.
It's pretty rare to see coaches who aren't managers get fired midseason, but Braves fans are fed up with Tuiasosopo, and it's hard to blame them. This team struggles to score runs as is. They can ill afford mistakes like these, costing them precious outs. It's going to be hard to justify keeping Tuiasosopo around if this keeps happening.