by Megan Garcia
Max Muncy feels like he avoided the worst.
The Dodger third baseman left Wednesday’s game in the sixth inning with a left knee injury after the White Sox’s Michael A. Taylor collided with him.
Taylor’s helmet banged into Muncy’s leg on a slide, and the power-hitting Dodger third baseman later had to be helped off the field.
On Thursday, it was revealed that Muncy is expected back this season. He thinks possibly six weeks.
“We possibly got best-case scenario. No structural damage in there,” Muncy said.
Taylor was caught stealing for the second out of the inning as Clayton Kershaw aimed to join 19 other pitchers with 3,000 career strikeouts. He was one strikeout away from history at the time of the play.
Three pitches later, after Muncy was assisted to the dugout and Kiké Hernández took over at third, Kershaw notched his 3,000th strikeout.
Muncy was placed on the injured list on Thursday and outfielder Esteury Ruiz was recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City.
“After taking in all the information, very relieved,” said manager Dave Roberts on the Muncy news. “Just to know that he’s going top be back for a good part of the back-end of the season and beyond, we’re very relieved.”
Miguel Rojas and Hernández move in to take over at third base. Roberts said Tommy Edman will take some ground balls at third base. He last played the position for eight games in 2022 with the Cardinals.
Since May 8, Muncy has been one of the Dodgers’ hottest hitters. In the span of 45 games leading into Wednesday, he led the team with a .312 batting average, .433 on-base percentage and 48 RBI.
Muncy is slashing .250/.375/.457/.832 in his eighth season with the Dodgers.
Max Muncy lands on IL in bad-news/good-news situation was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.