LOS ANGELES (AP) — Max Muncy seemed to unleash a month’s worth of frustration with one swing on Wednesday, sending a 107.7 mph drive 433 feet over the center-field wall for his first home run of the season in the Los Angeles Dodgers' 12-7 victory over the Miami Marlins.
“It’s not easy,” Muncy said, when asked how much of a grind the first month of the season has been. “It’s not easy on me or my family. It’s a privilege to play in LA under this pressure–it’s something I’ve always thrived on–but it doesn’t mean it’s been easy. It’s been a rough month.”
Muncy, 34, entered the series finale with a .180 average, .531 OPS, no homers and four RBIs in his first 28 games, paltry power numbers for a slugger who had averaged 32 homers a year from 2018-2023.
But he began to find his stroke in the batting cage over the weekend and got a little jolt of confidence with his third multi-hit game in Monday night’s win.
Then Muncy homered on a fastball from right-hander Cal Quantrill in the second inning on Wednesday and was rewarded with a massive sunflower-seed shower, courtesy of right fielder Teoscar Hernández, as he returned to the dugout, and bear hugs and high-fives .
“That was huge for me — it was almost a little emotional,” Muncy said. “This clubhouse is very tight, very close, and everyone cares about each other. We all just want to win, and for us to win, everyone needs to be clicking.”
The offense has been clicking this week. The Dodgers, who extended their win streak to five, had 17 hits, including three triples, one day after amassing 18 hits in a 15-2 victory.
Mookie Betts hit a two-run single in the third inning and a two-run triple in the sixth, Freddie Freeman capped a four-run sixth with a two-run homer, and Hernández and No. 9 hitter Austin Barnes each had three hits.
The outburst backed a strong effort from right-hander Tony Gonsolin, who gave up three runs and six hits, struck out nine and walked none in six innings to earn the win in his first start since Tommy John surgery in August 2023.
Gonsolin, who missed the first month of this season because of back tightness, induced 17 swinging strikes among his 77 pitches, effectively mixing a four-seam fastball that averaged 92.6 mph with his 87 mph slider, 84 mph split-fingered fastball and 80 mph curveball.
“It feels good to be back on the mound for sure,” Gonsolin said. “Just go out there and do my job and have fun–I think that was the ultimate goal.”
Gonsolin, an All-Star when he went 16-1 with a 2.14 ERA in 2022, said he did not feel nervous when he took the mound for the first time in 20 months.
“Tony has a different brain,” manager Dave Roberts said. “You can take that any way you want. I think he’s just very confident in who he is now as a person, as a ballplayer, and the moment isn’t gonna get too big for him. It wasn’t like this was his first outing in however long. He just took it in stride and really looked good today.”
Gonsolin gave up a two-run homer to Kyle Stowers in the fourth inning and an RBI double to Stowers in the sixth, but he struck out Connor Norby looking at an 87 mph slider to end the sixth inning and preserve a 4-3 lead.
“I’ve faced him a lot in my career, and it’s not a fun at-bat, especially when he’s striking the (first-pitch) curveball,” Freeman, the former Atlanta Braves star, said of Gonsolin.
“It’s really hard as a hitter if he’s doing that, because then you’ve got the heater up, foul it off, then the splitter down below. He had everything working for the first time in two years. To be on a big-league mound and do that was very impressive.”
With top-line starters Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow on the injured list because of shoulder inflammation, Gonsolin’s return gave a much-needed boost to the Dodgers rotation.
And if Muncy can build on Wednesday’s homer, it would provide a boost to the bottom of a lineup that has not been very productive.
“When you’re a power hitter and you hit a lot of home runs every year, and it’s been, what, 28, 29 games, and he hasn’t had one yet. … Subconsciously, he might press a little bit to try to get that first one,” Freeman said of Muncy.
“I know he’s been going through it, trying to get that first homer, to get his swing right. He’s been working so hard. So for him to see some results after all the hard work, hopefully the floodgates will open for Max.”
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Mike Digiovanna, The Associated Press
