La Russa went into Pirates' broadcast booth to dispute 'untruths'

When Tony La Russa heard the Pittsburgh Pirates' broadcasting crew spouting off "untruths" about his history with retaliatory plunkings after Pirates reliever Arquimedes Caminero hit two Diamondbacks hitters in the head Tuesday, Arizona's chief baseball officer wasn't going to stand idly be.

Instead, the manager-turned-executive - with three World Series titles and 2,728 career wins on his resume - went in there to set the record straight.

"I never have stood for inaccuracies," La Russa told Nick Piecoro of AZCentral after inviting himself into the booth, mid-broadcast, "so I corrected the inaccuracies.

"It's about taking responsibility. If you're going to speak untruths then you're going to get challenged and you should be responsible for what you say. I am. I reacted."

Though La Russa denied instructing any of his pitchers to intentionally hit a hot batter with a pitch throughout his 33 years as a major-league manager, he also noted Wednesday, after watching Nick Ahmed and Jean Segura get hit in the head the evening prior, that "intimidation is an important part of sports."

For the record, Diamondbacks manager Chip Hale said he doesn't believe Caminero hit his players intentionally, but suggested the Pirates' management and coaching staff are at fault for the incident for enabling a hard-throwing pitcher without control.

"You know what, when guys get hit in the head and they get hit in the face, there's no place for that in the game," Hale told reporters, according to ESPN. "And if the guy is not trying to do it, then he shouldn't be here at this level. If you can't have enough control to not hit people up there, it's just not acceptable - especially twice in one game."

(Video courtesy: MLB.com)