SAN FRANCISCO — One of the nice quotes attributed to U.S. Founding Father Benjamin Franklin goes as follows: “In this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes.”
Had Franklin miraculously lived to see the twenty first century, he may need added a 3rd merchandise to the checklist: Max Muncy mashing at Oracle Park.
Muncy drove in a career-high seven runs to energy the Dodgers to a 9-1 win over the Giants on Monday night time, snapping the group’s three-game shedding streak. Ringing on this season’s first version of the historic Dodgers-Giants rivalry, Los Angeles picked up proper the place it left off in 2022 and gained its eighth straight sport in San Francisco.
The Dodgers lastly bought the thump they wanted out of the cleanup spot, with all seven of Muncy’s RBIs coming through the lengthy ball. He crushed a three-run shot off Giants ace Logan Webb that dropped into the house bullpen within the third inning, then adopted that up by launching his third profession grand slam to the left-field bleachers within the seventh. Both of Muncy’s round-trippers got here with two outs.
“That was a back-breaker,” supervisor Dave Roberts stated, “because I think that these guys here, they’re always in it. But that grand slam kind of put it out of reach, and for me, [Muncy] hitting the ball to left-center field and center field, that’s more telling for me than a pull-side homer as well.”
Muncy’s second and third dingers of 2023 padded his already spectacular stat line towards San Francisco. In 73 video games towards the Giants, the 32-year-old infielder has hit 23 homers — tied for the third-most amongst energetic gamers — and knocked in 51 runs. Three of Muncy’s 10 profession multi-homer video games have come towards the Dodgers’ archrivals.
While Muncy has recorded the majority of his house runs and RBIs towards the Giants at house, he is logged a 1.013 OPS in 36 video games at Oracle Park.
“He’s certainly had his ups and downs, but he’s always dangerous,” Giants supervisor Gabe Kapler stated. “He can always take you deep. He can take you deep to the middle of the field. He can draw a walk. He’s especially patient. Really good overall hitter. It’s not going to surprise us to see him do damage.”
After batting 4-for-33 to start the season, Muncy tweaked his mechanics forward of the collection in San Francisco and re-added a step-back into his batting stance. He had made that very same adjustment on the finish of final season however opted to go with out it this spring, believing that he may get higher outcomes that manner.
Bringing again the step-back not solely helped Muncy simplify his method, nevertheless it additionally allowed him to get out of his personal head.
“It was more about just getting a breath of fresh air, getting out of Arizona,” Muncy stated. “That’s a team that, traditionally, I haven’t really hit well against. … Getting eight games against them right out of the gate for me is not necessarily the best thing.”
Muncy wasn’t the one one glad to be transferring on from Arizona. The Dodgers’ pitching workers additionally rebounded Monday night time after permitting double-digit runs to the D-backs on back-to-back days, giving up 31 runs in whole over the four-game set.
Julio Urías, who earned his third win of the season in as many begins, proved to be the stopper the group wanted. The 26-year-old southpaw allowed one run on 4 hits over six innings, putting out eight towards two walks.
“It was my turn in the rotation to kind of stop the bleeding,” Urías stated in Spanish by way of group interpreter Juan Dorado. “Obviously we had tough games in Arizona, but I didn’t put extra pressure on myself to go out there and do my job.”
Like Muncy, Urías has produced a formidable physique of labor towards the Giants, going 7-4 with a 2.09 ERA over 26 video games. The Dodgers’ ace might not have been feeling the warmth, however Roberts prompt that Muncy might get a little bit extra fired up than standard when going through their longtime rivals.
For his half, Muncy did not outright deny that he enjoys these video games.
“It’s a lot of fun. Success in general is fun,” Muncy stated. “But I guess it does mean a little more when it’s here.”
Content Source: www.mlb.com