Muncy adds to his home run history
by Cary Osborne
One of the great power hitters in Dodger history never had one of the magical home run moments in his career.
Until Saturday. Until his final at-bat.
Muncy hit a 1–2 offering from Atlanta reliever Jackson Stephens deep to left field and snuck it over the wall at Dodger Stadium for a solo home run — his third home run of the game.
History crossed Muncy’s mind standing in the batter’s box before he swung the bat.
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t (thinking about three home runs),” Muncy said. “It’s always in your head when you get up there after two. I’ve hit two plenty of times. But yeah, when you go up there last at-bat, the third one is always in your head.”
The Dodger third baseman hit a two-run home run in the second inning off Atlanta starter Bryce Elder to start the scoring for the Dodgers in their 11–2 win against the Atlanta Braves. Muncy also hit a solo home run against reliever Tyler Matzek in the seventh inning.
Muncy went 4-for-5 on the night, earning the fourth four-hit game of his career and first since Aug. 13, 2022.
This was also the 15th multi-home run game of his career.
There was another impressive element to it all — one that reinforced to Muncy how right he is in the batter’s box.
His first homer traveled to center field. His second went more to the pull side to right-center. His final was an opposite-field shot.
“To me, the best indication was the first one being to center field,” Muncy said. “And that’s just something that with my approach, I try to stay to center field. I’m obviously going to pull the ball more than I’m not — that’s just how it’s always going to be. But my approach is obviously to the center of the field. So when I’m able to actually do that, that to me is the best indicator.”
Muncy now has eight homers this season. The last one on Saturday was his first to the opposite field this season and third over the last two seasons out of 44 homers.
“We haven’t seen that backside homer in a long time,” said manager Dave Roberts. “When you can go the other way, you’re spinning the baseball the right way. It carries out of the ballpark versus a swing that’s cutting it. So his swing’s in a really good spot, he’s taking really good at-bats, and he’s just doing everything we need.”
Muncy now has 183 home runs as a Dodger — ninth in franchise history.
This was the 29th time in franchise history a player has hit at least three home runs in a game.
Muncy was part of a five-homer day for the Dodgers.
In another dose of history, one of those was off the bat of Shohei Ohtani, whose third-inning solo home run gave him his eighth of the season and eighth as a Dodger. He passed his manager Dave Roberts for most home runs by a Japanese-born Dodger.
Andy Pages hit a solo home run in the fourth inning — his fourth of the season. He went 2-for-5 in the game and has a 10-game hitting streak.
