The little things that led to Muncy’s big moment
by Christian Romo
Max Muncy had the big hit on Sunday, hitting a go-ahead, two-run home run off Cardinals’ left-handed reliever John King in the bottom of the eighth inning.
But he didn’t do it alone. A lot of small moments built up to this one.
Muncy highlighted the constant pressure this Dodger lineup puts on opposing pitchers, keeping the Dodgers in games late even when down by multiple runs. He pointed out that the Cardinals had used their high-leverage lefty reliever JoJo Romero in back-to-back games on Friday and Saturday, rendering him unavailable on Sunday to face Muncy in a critical spot.
“That made it a little easier of an at-bat,” Muncy said. “It’s just something that goes unnoticed to a lot of people, but it’s something that we take a lot of pride in. You have to fight every game.”
It’s a little thing that helped swing a four-run deficit to a 5–4 Dodger win — a little thing that turned a series split into a series victory for the Dodgers.
It’s the little things that make this Dodger offense what it is.
Muncy entered the game as a pinch hitter in the sixth inning with the Dodgers down 4–1 after an RBI single from right fielder Teoscar Hernández and a walk from left fielder Chris Taylor. Muncy’s single loaded the bases, and an RBI groundout from centerfielder James Outman cut the Cardinal lead in half.
The Dodgers slowly chipped away at the Cardinal lead as they did on Saturday — only this time they finished the job.
Hernández added his third home run of the season with one out in the eighth, a solo shot that brought the Dodgers to within one run. Taylor walked in the next at-bat to put the tying run on base, and Muncy brought him in by parking a King slider 420 feet away for his first home run of the season.
“Everyone realizes that when you don’t even start a game, you can come back and still impact the game,” manager Dave Roberts said. “And (there’s) no better example than what Max (Muncy) did today.”
Another example came from right-handed reliever Nabil Crismatt, who threw two shutout innings in the seventh and eighth and struck out three batters in his Dodger debut.
Crismatt was added to the active roster on Sunday and immediately made a positive impact, though he didn’t know beforehand whether he would enter the game.
“It’s just a matter of being ready for what they need,” Crismatt said. “The telephone rang, and I went in to compete.”
Muncy echoed that mindset, saying everyone who starts on the bench has to be ready for their moment.
“If you’re off that night, you’re not really off. You have to be ready to go,” he said. “The bullpen gets hot and you see the dugout start scrambling, and guys are getting ready knowing that any situation might come up for them.”
Stone effective in season debut
Starting pitcher Gavin Stone gave up three runs and seven hits over five innings, striking out a career-high six batters in his first start of the 2024 season.
Stone made a strong first impression, striking out the side — all swinging — in the top of the first inning. He broke his career-high strikeout mark by the fourth inning, setting down Cardinals designated hitter Alec Burleson.
“I think it’s important for everyone to get off to a good start, and it’s easy whenever you got the lineup that we got.” Stone said.
A series of three singles brought in the Cardinals’ first run in the third inning and an RBI single from left fielder Brendan Donovan added another in the fifth.
Stone had only reached the sixth inning of a start once before Sunday, and had never given up as few as three runs in any of his four career starts, all from 2023. He joined the starting rotation after putting up a 3.21 ERA over 14 innings during Spring Training.
“I thought Gavin (Stone) pitched a heck of a ballgame,” Roberts said. “The line score certainly doesn’t show how well he threw the baseball tonight. A really good outing from Gavin, and we needed those innings from him today.”
Up next
The Dodgers (4–2) host the San Francisco Giants (2–2) on Monday at 7:10 pm. James Paxton is set to make his Dodger debut against Giants right-hander Keaton Winn.
